Trip.com Under Anti-Monopoly Investigation, Controls Over 60% of China's Online Travel Market
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 2d ago
0mins
Source: Benzinga
- Investigation Launched: China's State Administration for Market Regulation has initiated an anti-monopoly investigation into Trip.com, focusing on its hotel booking operations, which accounted for 44% of its revenue in Q3, potentially forcing the company to end exclusivity agreements and divest rival investments.
- Market Share Concentration: Trip.com controls over 60% of China's online travel market through a series of acquisitions and investments, maintaining a strong market position despite challenges from Meituan and Alibaba.
- Stock Price Plunge: Following the announcement of the investigation, Trip.com's stock fell 22% over four trading days, wiping out approximately $9 billion in market value, although its share price remains up 54 times since its IPO, indicating investor anxiety about the future.
- Uncertain Future Outlook: The market regulator is expected to impose fines exceeding $1 billion on Trip.com, but the greater concern lies in potential divestitures of key investments, particularly in Tongcheng and Qunar, which could significantly impact its market dominance.
Analyst Views on TCOM
Wall Street analysts forecast TCOM stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for TCOM is 85.00 USD with a low forecast of 82.00 USD and a high forecast of 90.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
7 Analyst Rating
7 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 61.300
Low
82.00
Averages
85.00
High
90.00
Current: 61.300
Low
82.00
Averages
85.00
High
90.00
About TCOM
Trip.com Group Limited is a global travel service provider comprising Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner and Qunar. Its one-stop travel platform connects its users and its ecosystem partners. It offers accommodation reservations, transportation ticketing, packaged tours, and corporate travel management services and other travel-related services to meet the various booking and traveling needs of both leisure and business travelers through its travel platform. It helps travelers around the world make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services and enables partners to connect their offerings with users through the aggregation of comprehensive travel-related content and resources and an advanced transaction platform, including apps, websites and 24/7 customer service centers. Ctrip provides travel and related services in China. Qunar is an online travel agency in China. Trip.com is an online travel agency for global travelers. Skyscanner is a travel search company.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
