As previously reported, Macquarie analyst Matthew Brooks downgraded Expedia to Neutral from Outperform and cut its price target to $115 from $130. At a conference this week, Expedia management provided Q1 EBITDA guidance of $50M-$100M, below Brooks' $168M estimate and the Street's $175M forecast. The analyst said to "expect an ugly Q1 print," with EBITDA being the lowest since 2011 and does not expect additional spending going forward to generate the desired benefits. Brooks expects Google to continue to capture more of the economics of travel search at the expense of matasearch assets and thinks headwinds from direct booking are higher in the US, where Expedia has more exposure.