Expedia rises on higher annual forecast

** Expedia's shares EXPE.O rise nearly 18% to about $221 in premarket trading

** Co raised its full-year gross bookings growth forecast to between 3% and 5%, up 1 percentage point from its earlier forecast

** "Since the beginning of July, we've seen an uptick in overall travel demand, particularly in the U.S.," CEO Ariane Gorin said on the earnings call on Thursday

** Co reported a 21% rise in Q2 adjusted earnings per share to $4.24, beating analysts' estimates of $4.1, according to data compiled by LSEG

** Fifteen of 36 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 20 "hold" and one "sell" or lower; their median PT is $200 - LSEG data

** As of last close, shares up nearly 1% YTD