Should Orbitz go public?

Blackstone group, one of the famed private equity firms, recently announced they are taking Orbitz Worldwide Inc. public. This seems like an odd time to do so considering the high level of competition among online travel agencies, price wars between the airlines and rising costs due to elevated fuel prices.

Orbitz reported an increase in bookings of 38% last year, along with revenue of $752 Million. Looking at those numbers, one might be inclined to buy this IPO. However, if you look at the net income, Orbitz claimed a loss of $146 Million. This makes me question how the company derived that $752 Million in revenues; Orbitz makes profit by taking money off the top of flights, hotels, and cars other companies provide. If that revenue amount included the actual total flight, hotel, and rental costs, Orbitz might be cheating itself by going public at this juncture. Perhaps, investors are the ones who will get cheated if they fail to look at these numbers closer.

Even if Orbitz generated that $752M in revenue solely from its commissions, where do these high costs come from that created a net loss of more then 1/7 of these revenues? It makes you wonder if the costs can be cut or controlled, especially once full disclosure of financials is needed. In addition, revenue may slump this summer if fuel prices remain high and are built into plane ticket or car rental prices.

It isn't usually smart to go against Blackstone and underwriters such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, but I will be searching for more information before I jump on this IPO bandwagon.