Wall Street Loves Expedia (EXPE) Spin Off

The announcement by Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) that its going to spin off it TripAdvisor business into a public company won the applause of Wall Street, and was rewarded with its biggest one-day gain since June 2007.

Shares of Expedia were trading at $24.88, gaining $2.48, or 11.05 percent, as of 11:56 AM EDT. It reached as high as $25.75 earlier in the session.

Expedia announced late Thursday its board of directors approved separating the business into two publicly traded companies.

Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) Mark Mahaney was upbeat on the deal, calling the stock a “core holding” among large cap Internet stocks. He stuck with his buy rating and $29 price target. He sees Expedia “the best value play” in the sector “with TripAdvisor as a key differentiator.”

Many other analysts were just as positive on the event.