U.S. Movers: Amazon.com, Expedia, Hilton, Verisign

Scott Peters
07 Feb, 2025
New York City

Amazon.com Inc. dropped 2.9% to $231.98 after the company posted fourth-quarter sales, and sales growth outlook disappointed some investors.

Net sales increased to $187.79 billion from $169.96 billion, net income surged to $20.0 billion from $10.6 billion, and earnings per diluted share rose to $1.86 from $1.00 a year ago.

For the first quarter of 2025, the company estimated net sales growth of 5% to 9% to a range of $151.0 billion to $155.5 billion.

Operating income is expected to be between $14.0 billion and $18.0 billion, compared to $15.3 billion in the first quarter last year.

Amazon said it plans to boost capital expenditures to $100 billion in 2025, compared to $83 billion last year, as it continues to make investments in artificial intelligence.

The company faces increased competition from rivals, including OpenAI and Google.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. gained 0.04% to $270.50 after the hotel operator reported fourth quarter and record full-year results.

Quarterly revenue increased to $642 million from $601 million, net income surged to $505 million from $150 million, and earnings per diluted share rose to $2.06 from 57 cents a year ago.

Hilton repurchased 3.1 million shares of its common stock during the fourth quarter, bringing the total capital return, including dividends, to $781 million for the quarter and $3.0 billion for the full year.

For the first quarter of 2025, the company expects a 2.5% to 3.5% growth in revenue per available room, compared to the same period last year.

Hilton also estimated net income of $373 million to $388 million and earnings per share between $1.52 and $1.58 in the first quarter.

For the year 2025, the company expects net unit growth of 6% to 7%.

The company projects a full-year capital return of approximately $3.3 billion.

Expedia Inc. surged 10.6% to $190.80 after the travel technology company reported a 13% increase in gross bookings during the fourth quarter ending in December.

Revenue increased 10% to $3.18 billion from $2.89 billion, net income climbed 124% to $299 million from $132 million, and earnings per diluted share jumped 139% to $2.20 from 92 cents a year ago.

The company proposed a first quarter dividend of 40 cents per share, payable on March 27 to holders of record on March 6.

Expedia expects 2025 gross bookings and revenue growth of 4% to 6%.

Travel demand has remained steady in Asia Pacific, aided by the lifting of some visa restrictions in the region, as well as in Europe.

Verisign Inc. dropped 0.08% to $220 after the provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services reported a 3.9% sales growth in the fourth quarter, but profit declined.

Revenue jumped to $395.4 million from $380.4 million, net income declined to $191.5 million from $265.1 million, and earnings per diluted share fell to $2.0 from $2.60 a year ago.

Verisign ended the fourth quarter with 169.0 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 2.1% decrease from a year ago.

In the fourth quarter, the company processed 9.5 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 9.0 million for the same period in 2023.

Verisign repurchased 6.6 million shares of its common stock for $1.21 billion during the full year of 2024.

As of December 31, there was $1.02 billion remaining for future share repurchases under the company’s program, which has no expiration date.