Expedia stock trading lower ahead of earnings amid Trivago weakness, spending fears

Shares of Expedia Group Inc. EXPE, -1.76%are down 2% in Thursday afternoon trade after online-travel peer Trivago NV TRVG, -5.41%posted an earnings miss a day earlier, citing higher-than-anticipated marketing spending. Expedia is the majority owner of Trivago and is set to report its own earnings after the bell Thursday.

"We expect Expedia to start aggressively spending on metasearch in the back half, creating a positive pricing dynamic for RPQR," wrote Mizuho analyst James Lee on Thursday, referring to revenue per qualified referral. Elevated marketing spend has been a concernfor investors in online-travel companies, including Expedia and Booking Holdings Inc. BKNG, +1.45%formerly known as Priceline. Expedia's options straddle is priced for a move of up to 8% after earnings, in line with the company's median of 8.1% and below its average of 9.3% over the past 20 quarters. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect Expedia to post an adjusted per-share loss of 46 cents on revenue of $2.4 billion. Expedia shares are down 11% so far this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.99%has gained 12%.