Priceline pops 5.5% after hours as it scales back OpenTable

Shares of Priceline Group rose about 5.5 percent after hours after the travel technology company reported better-than-expected earnings, and announced it would pare back its property, OpenTable.

The booking platform, which includes Booking.com, Kayak, and Rentalcars.com, reported adjusted earnings of $31.18 a share, excluding items, on revenue of $3.69 billion. Wall Street was expecting $29.91 in adjusted earnings per share on sales of $3.62 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.

Bookings, a key measure in the industry, hit 150 million room nights in the third quarter, up 29 percent year-over-year. Priceline.com, a subsidiary of the overall group, also named Brett Keller its permanent CEO.

However, Priceline Group also said earnings were negatively impacted by $941 million impairment charge due to a slower expansion strategy at OpenTable, a restaurant booking site.

"While OpenTable will continue to pursue ... growth opportunities, they will do so on a more measured and deliberate basis," Priceline said in a statement.

Priceline purchased OpenTable for $2.6 billion in 2014, a move that was expected to help OpenTable expand globally and improve the browsing experience.

But since then, more platforms connecting consumers to food — like GrubHub and Blue Apron — have become popular online. Meanwhile, grocery costs are shrinking while fixed expenses like rent and education are rising, keeping consumers out of pricey restaurants, according to industry watchers like Moody's Investors Service.

"We will continue to invest in smartly marketing our brands and in the tools and technology that benefit both our customers and partners in the online travel marketplace," Jeffery Boyd, chairman and interim CEO of The Priceline Group, said in a statement. "We also look forward to pushing ahead with OpenTable to build on their strong brand with a strategy that supports both building the core business and international expansion at a more measured pace."