1 Positive Catalyst Coming For HomeAway Investors

• HomeAway, Inc (NASDAQ: AWAY) shares have been volatile in 2015 and are down 7 percent in the last six months.
• Piper Jaffray’s Michael J. Olson maintained an Overweight rating on the company, with a price target of $39.
• HomeAway’s efforts to boost monetization may act as a catalyst in the near future, Olson stated.

Analyst Michael Olson mentioned that HomeAway’s management is expected to initiate efforts to improve monetization. The company’s recent Summit in Boston and a survey of 25 vacation rental owners revealed that most of them had no explicit concerns related to the implementation of a small guest booking fee.

The survey also revealed that many vacation rental owners were aware of the relatively favorable economics that they get on their HomeAway subscription. Olson added that this makes them more amenable to the company adding a traveler booking fee.

The Summit also showed that 70 percent of classic subscribers surveyed were planning to tier-up their subscription in the next year to get better placement in search.

“Excluding an inorganic monetization event, we believe there is still meaningful upside to be had as ROIs continue to improve with listings moving up the subscription tier system,” the Piper Jaffray report noted.

Olson mentioned that although there was an increase in the percentage of subscribers converting to online booking enablement, more discussions are needed to assist the sub-base to 100 percent online booking enablement. He added that the company could consider the roll-out of online booking with offline payment as an option.

“We also noted no significant increase in owners looking to list their properties on Airbnb,” Olson wrote.