Starbucks, Priceline shares climb after hours Tri

Starbucks, Priceline shares climb after hours
TripAdvisor shares up double-digits after results; LinkedIn gains LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Shares of Starbucks Corp. and Priceline.com climbed Thursday evening, bolstered by forecasts from the companies that were higher than Wall Street’s current expectations.

At the same time, shares of LinkedIn Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. jumped following better-than-anticipated quarterly results.

Starbucks shares (NASDAQ:SBUX) gained 7.3% to trade at $50 as the coffee retailer also said it’s raising its quarterly dividend by 24% to 21 cents a share.

For 2013, Starbucks foresees earnings of $2.06 and $2.15 a share. It had previously expected earnings of $2.04 to $2.14 a share. Starbucks maintained its guidance for revenue and same-store sales growth.

Starbucks’s profit for the fourth quarter was $359 million, or 46 cents a share, compared with $358.5 million, or 47 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 11% to $3.4 billion as same-store sales increased 6%, topping the consensus estimate of 5.1%.

But Starbucks continues to grapple with weak consumer spending in Britain and Western Europe. The business unit for those regions in the most recent quarter posted an operating loss of $6.5 million.

PCLN 640.80, +54.70, +9.33%

Priceline.com shares (NASDAQ CLN) surged 9.5% to $642. The online travel-services provider projected fourth-quarter revenue to be up 15% to 22% from the same period last year, with earnings in the range of $6.12 to $6.57 a share. Analysts were expecting a revenue gain of 15% with earnings of $6.32 a share.

Priceline’s third-quarter earnings on an adjusted basis were $12.40 a share, higher than Wall Street’s consensus of $11.82 a share. Revenue rose 17% to $1.7 billion, surpassing expectations of $1.65 billion. Net earnings jumped 27% to $600 million, or $11.56 a share, and gross travel bookings rose 25% to $7.8 billion. See: Priceline Q3 earnings jump on international bookings.

At online travel review and recommendations company TripAdvisor Inc., third-quarter adjusted earnings were 46 cents a share and revenue rose 18% to $212.7 million. Investors pushed the shares (NASDAQ:TRIP) up 19% to $35 as the results were above the earnings consensus of 42 cents a share and the call for revenue of $211 million. More on TripAdvisor’s quarterly results.

LinkedIn shares (NYSE:LNKD) moved 8.1% higher to $115.47 following the professional social networking company’s report that third-quarter adjusted earnings were 22 cents a share and revenue rose to $252 million from $139.5 million. Wall Street projected earnings of 11 cents a share on revenue of $244.6 million. LinkedIn’s results in part reflected a growing user base.

LinkedIn forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $270 million to $275 million, and analysts were expecting $272.87 million.
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