-=Expedia (EXPE) reported earnings on Thur 8 Feb 2018 (a/h)

(Reuters) - Shares of U.S. online travel services company Expedia fell after forecasting 2018 selling and marketing costs would outpace revenue growth as it battles rivals for market share.

The company, which owns Expedia.com and Hotels.com, reported equally disappointing previous quarter results partly due to underperformance at its Trivago hotel-search website.

The latest quarter was the first full quarter under Expedia's new Chief Executive Officer Mark Okerstrom, who succeeded Dara Khosrowshahi after he left to take the top job at car-ride provider Uber Technologies Inc.

"Under the new management, Expedia is more aggressively investing in tech and marketing to scale its global footprint and catch up to industry leader Priceline Group Inc, which currently has approximately 2x the inventory and room nights sold as Expedia," RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said.

Mahaney lowered his price target to $141 from $155, while maintaining an "outperform" rating.

Concerns that the apparent inventory war brewing between Priceline and Expedia after the management transition could weigh on the sector in a similar manner to what happened in China with online travel company Qunar, said Benchmark Co analyst Daniel Kurnos.