Shares of Expedia Group Inc (NYSE:EXPE) are falling sharply this morning, brushing off better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue, with bookings are up 13% year over year. The stock was last seen down 9.2% at $229.64 after the company's weak full-year forecast, while CEO Ariane Gorin warned that Middle East tensions and travel warnings in Mexico dented current-quarter bookings.
Headed for its worst single-day percentage drop since February, Expedia stock is now trading just below its 200-day moving average, a level that helped contain late-April losses. Year over year, the equity is down 19.3%.
Puts have been much more popular than usual in the options pits, per EXPE's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.33 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than 92% of readings from the past year. Today, the stock is seeing quadruple its average options volume, with the most activity at the weekly 5/29 165-strike put straight out of the gate.
Meanwhile, short interest has been building, and now represents 6% of the stock's available float. It would take shorts nearly three days to buy back their bearish bets, at EXPE's average pace of trading.
