Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) Stock Price & How to Invest

Trip.com Group Limited is a Cayman Islands holding company that runs the largest online travel platform in China and an expanding international one. It sells accommodation reservations, transportation ticketing (mostly air and rail), packaged tours and corporate travel management under four main brands: Ctrip for mainland China, Qunar for price-led domestic demand, Trip.com for international travelers, and Skyscanner for flight and hotel metasearch. Founded in 1999, the company listed on Nasdaq in 2003 and added a Hong Kong listing (HKEX: 9961) in 2021, and its head office is in Singapore. US investors buy the TCOM American Depositary Share rather than the underlying ordinary share, and parts of the China business sit inside variable interest entities (VIEs) that hold the telecom and travel licenses PRC law keeps out of foreign hands.

The investment picture in August 2026 has two halves pulling in opposite directions. On the growth side, first-quarter 2026 net revenue rose ~17% year over year to ~RMB16.2 billion (~US$2.4 billion), gross bookings on the international platform climbed ~65%, inbound bookings into China rose ~90%, and the balance sheet held ~RMB104.0 billion (~US$15.1 billion) of cash and investments against roughly ~RMB30.8 billion of debt. On the other side, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued an administrative penalty decision on July 25, 2026 that fined the company ~RMB3.52 billion, confiscated ~RMB1.66 billion of gains and ordered ~RMB122 million of hotel deposits refunded, while requiring an end to the exclusivity and most-favored-pricing terms it had imposed on hotels. Management accepted the decision and had already guided second-quarter revenue growth down to ~3% to 8% on macro pressure plus compliance-driven operating changes, so the question facing the shares is how much of the domestic hotel economics survives the rewrite.

China regulatory exposure is the dominant risk and it is no longer theoretical: the SAMR decision of July 25, 2026 cost ~RMB5.3 billion (~US$781 million) and rewrote the company's hotel contracting terms, while a December 2025 Yunnan homestay industry association complaint that named Trip.com and a July 2026 draft amendment to China's e-commerce law point to continued scrutiny of platform pricing, algorithms and traffic rules. Structurally, an ADS buyer owns equity in a Cayman Islands holding company and not in the PRC variable interest entities that hold licenses essential to parts of the business, so a PRC finding that those contractual arrangements fail to comply could impair the value of the listed security. Under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, audit reports from a firm the PCAOB cannot inspect for two consecutive years would trigger a US trading prohibition; the PCAOB restored access to mainland China and Hong Kong firms in December 2022 and Trip.com has not been named a Commission-Identified Issuer since, but the exposure returns if that access is withdrawn. Operationally, results track Chinese and Asian travel demand and are sensitive to currency, energy prices and geopolitics, and the company itself guided second-quarter 2026 revenue growth down to ~3% to 8%. On litigation, a securities fraud class action over the antitrust disclosures (De Wilde v. Trip.com Group Limited, No. 2:26-cv-01420, E.D.N.Y., filed March 11, 2026, covering purchasers from April 30, 2024 to January 13, 2026) was voluntarily dismissed by order entered May 26, 2026, so no such case is pending, though the penalty itself keeps private claims in China and the US a live possibility.

29 analysts publish price targets on TCOM, averaging $60.46 against a $44.98 price as of August 2026, or +34.4%. The published targets run from $42.40 to $72.43, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 25 buy, 4 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 0 raises and 8 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full TCOM forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Trip.com Group Limited. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. International and inbound travel. Growth outside mainland China is the part of the business compounding fastest. The most optimistic published target, $72.43, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. China regulatory exposure is the dominant risk and it is no longer theoretical: the SAMR decision of July 25, 2026 cost ~RMB5.3 billion (~US$781 million) and rewrote the company's hotel contracting terms, while a December 2025 Yunnan homestay industry association complaint that named Trip.com and a July 2026 draft amendment to China's e-commerce law point to continued scrutiny of platform pricing, algorithms and traffic rules. The most pessimistic target, $42.40, is roughly what TCOM is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on TCOM, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Trip.com Group Limited's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (Q1 2026, quarter ended March 31): ~RMB16.2 billion (~US$2.4 billion), up ~17% year over year
• Revenue (trailing twelve months): ~RMB64.8 billion (~US$9.4 billion); FY2025 was ~RMB62.4 billion (~US$8.9 billion)
• Profit (Q1 2026): Net income ~RMB2.5 billion (~US$367 million) versus ~RMB4.3 billion a year earlier; adjusted EBITDA ~RMB4.8 billion (~US$701 million)
• Cash and investments: ~RMB104.0 billion (~US$15.1 billion) at March 31, 2026, against ~RMB30.8 billion of total debt at December 31, 2025
• Antitrust penalty (July 25, 2026): ~RMB3.52 billion fine (~US$518.9 million, equal to ~7.5% of 2025 PRC sales revenue), plus ~RMB1.66 billion of confiscated gains and ~RMB122 million of hotel deposit refunds
• Market value and multiples: ~US$28 billion market capitalization on ~630 million ADSs at ~US$45, roughly ~6.8x trailing and ~12x forward earnings

Two figures mislead if read quickly. Trip.com reports in Chinese renminbi, so a screener that drops the currency label shows trailing revenue near 64,800, which is RMB millions (~US$9.4 billion) and not dollars. The trailing price/earnings ratio near ~6.8x is similarly flattered, because FY2025 other income carried a ~RMB15.4 billion gain from selling a MakeMyTrip stake back to MakeMyTrip for ~US$3.0 billion plus ~RMB4.0 billion of fair value gains, none of which is operating profit; the forward multiple near ~12x is the closer read.

Other names that sit close to TCOM: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get TCOM exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so TCOM sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where TCOM fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Trip.com combines the dominant Chinese travel booking franchise, ~US$15 billion of cash and investments and a rapidly growing international arm with a regulator that has just rewritten its hotel contracts, which turns TCOM into a valuation-and-regulation debate rather than a straightforward growth story.

Whether TCOM is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is TCOM a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the TCOM stock forecast.

For income investors, whether TCOM pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does TCOM pay a dividend? And to weigh TCOM against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: TCOM vs BKNG and TCOM vs EXPE.