Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stock fell Thursday after multiple analyst firms lowered their respective price forecasts on the stock.
Several brokerages, including Piper Sandler and Cantor Fitzgerald, lowered their price forecasts due to concerns that artificial intelligence developments could disrupt the traditional online travel agency model and impact long-term growth.
Earnings Snapshot
The company posted quarterly earnings of $48.80 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $48.27 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $6.349 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $6.130 billion.
Booking Holdings said it sees first-quarter sales of $5.429 billion-$5.524 billion, versus market estimates of $5.359 billion.
Here are the key analyst insights:
- RBC Capital analyst Brad Erickson reiterated an Outperform rating and maintained a price forecast of $6100.
- DA Davidson analyst Tom White maintained a Buy rating and lowered the price forecast from $6,600 to $6,000.
- Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos reiterated a Buy rating and lowered the price forecast from $6400 to $5600.
- Oppenheimer analyst Jed Kelly reiterated an Outperform rating and lowered the price forecast from $6500 to $6000.
- Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski reiterated an Equal-Weight rating and lowered the price forecast from $5954 to $5456.
- Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Deepak Mathivanan reiterated a Neutral rating and lowered the price forecast from $5830 to $4495.
- Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion reiterated a Neutral rating and lowered the price forecast from $5750 to $5000.
Check out other analyst stock ratings.
RBC: The analyst writes that the company delivered a strong result, with room nights, bookings, EBITDA, and EPS beating expectations, though first-quarter room nights and full-year margin guidance lagged Street estimates.
Erickson says that room nights growth was led by U.S. acceleration, easing AI disruption concerns, adds the analyst.
Loyalty and direct bookings remain robust, and nearly 90% of Booking.com room nights are non-chain, limiting aggregation risk, writes the analyst.
While $700 million reinvestment weighs on leverage, management's focus on search and merchant-of-record strengths is constructive, though AI traffic risks remain, adds the analyst.
Davidson: The analyst says that the rating reiteration reflects strong results, with upside to guidance and consensus across all key metrics.
Room nights accelerated, driven by broad strength across regions, especially Asia and the U.S., with the latter benefiting from a tough comp and strength in paid channels and B2B, adds the analyst.
The analyst notes that management's commentary highlighted resilient underlying travel demand, though U.S. ADRs and length of stay were slightly down.
BKNG Price Action: Booking Holdings shares were down 8.78% at $3895.00 at the time of publication on Thursday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week low, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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