Priceline.com: site for sore eyes Company A and company B are internet companies. Both had net income of $1bn last year, 65 per cent growth for A and 100 per cent for B (B also converted much more of that accounting profit into cash). A is expected to go public at 75 to 100 times 2011 earnings, where B can be had for a comparatively frugal 30 times. One more thing: A runs a site that helps members simulate a social life. B has customers, not members. They use its site to buy things. Company A is Facebook. Company B is Priceline.com, the $30bn market capitalisation online travel adviser, which just reported earnings ahead of expectations, as it generally does. The comparison is a bit unfair. Facebook is all potential. It has 845m members; the tapping sound you hear is analysts multiplying that by various estimates of future revenue per member and arriving at really big numbers. Priceline, on the other hand, has been making money brokering hotel rooms for years, and profit growth is expected to slow to only (if that word can be used) 35 per cent in 2012. On another level, however, the comparison highlights a fair point. Investors who want to profit from the shift to online commerce and communication have the option of betting on companies with multiyear records of growing earnings and where the valuation is not arbitrary. It is worth keeping that firmly in mind before pressing buy on names such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Groupon, and their ilk. That is not to say Priceline is a defensive stock. It is no Coca-Cola. Its growth has been driven by fast expansion outside of the US, especially in the fragmented European market, made possible by the timely acquisition of Booking.com. Priceline is a risky momentum stock whose growth will slow. But at least it does not require buyers to imagine what the future business model might look like.