As a reminder, the American online travel booking company announced a put option agreement on Monday morning to sell TheFork, its European online restaurant reservation platform, to American Express for $700m.

TheFork connects millions of consumers with over 50,000 restaurants across 11 European countries through its restaurant management, reservation, and customer engagement platform, as well as its dedicated discovery and booking app and website.

This agreement follows TripAdvisor's announcement last February that it was exploring strategic alternatives for the subsidiary. The group plans to allocate the proceeds from the sale toward share repurchases, debt repayment, or future acquisitions.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary conditions. American Express specified that TheFork will continue to be led by its current management team after the deal is finalized.

A transaction that fails to excite Jefferies...

"The deal should come as no surprise, given that the asset has been on the market since February and management recently hinted that a transaction was imminent," noted Jefferies, which raised its target price from $8.5 to $11 to account for an acquisition price that exceeded expectations.

However, the broker maintains its "underperform" rating on the stock, citing expectations that "declining revenue in the high-margin hotel sector will put pressure on pro-forma EBITDA growth."

In addition to the pressure on EBITDA, Jefferies is concerned that TripAdvisor's 2026 outlook implies a significant acceleration in revenue growth and profitability in H2, which it believes increases the risk of downward consensus revisions.

...but finds favor with Wedbush

Taking a more positive stance, Wedbush reaffirmed its "outperform" rating on TripAdvisor, raising its 12-month target price from $19 to $20 to incorporate the expected proceeds from the sale of TheFork.

"In our view, securing $700m for a company with a market capitalization of approximately $1.5bn represents a major balance sheet event," the broker noted in its research report.

"Combined with the existing $110m buyback authorization and the potential for additional authorization, we believe TripAdvisor is positioned to return a significant percentage of capital to its shareholders over the next 12 to 24 months," it predicts.