Major Bank Ratings | Citi: Maintains "Buy" Rating on Trip.com US Stocks, Q1 Growth Momentum Stronger Than Expected

Glonghui, February 27｜Citi released a research report stating that, benefiting from strong travel demand during the Chinese New Year holiday, Trip.com’s domestic hotel room nights and outbound bookings both recorded double-digit year-on-year growth, reflecting robust growth momentum in both domestic and outbound businesses in the first quarter. The booking volume on its platform Trip.com also maintained a year-on-year growth rate of about 60%. The bank believes that inbound tourism to China is performing strongly, and Trip.com may benefit from its brand advantage and the scale of its travel products in the Chinese market. Based on stronger-than-expected growth momentum in the first quarter and solid tourism demand in China, Citi raised its profit forecasts for this year and next year by 2% and 1% respectively, and believes that after the recent market weakness, Trip.com’s valuation has become more attractive.