Trip.com Q2 Earnings Preview: Regulatory Penalty Creates A Buying Opportunity (Upgrade)

Kenio Fontes 3.16K Followers Follow Summary Trip.com Group faces significant short-term headwinds from a RMB 3.5B antitrust fine and RMB 1.6B confiscation, impacting Q2 results. Regulatory changes require TCOM to remove exclusivity with hotels and automatic price adjustments, raising concerns over take rate and market share. Despite these challenges, TCOM maintains a wide moat and benefits from strong Chinese travel trends, with 65% growth in international bookings. I upgrade TCOM to a cautious buy, as regulatory uncertainty has eased and the stock trades at an attractive ~9x FY2027 earnings. winhorse/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I covered Trip.com Group ( TCOM ) Q1 earnings; it was a good quarter. The company delivered high teens revenue growth, which is great, mainly given the current complex travel landscape. But at the time, I didn’t find the This article was written by Kenio Fontes 3.16K Followers Follow Equity Research Analyst with a broad career in the financial market, covered both Brazilian and global stocks. As a value investor, my analysis is primarily fundamental, focusing on identifying undervalued stocks with growth potential. Feel free to reach out for collaborations or to connect! Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.