Airbnb Falls With Delta Variant Set to Hit Bookings

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Investing.com – Airbnb stock (NASDAQ:ABNB) slipped 3% in Friday’s premarket trading as the company said the delta variant of the Covid-19 virus will continue to affect overall travel behavior, potentially resulting in bookings in the current quarter falling below the previous one.

The company said July-September Nights and Experiences bookings will be lower than the level in the same quarter of 2019, although they will significantly outperform the 2020 quarter.

The company said how often and when guests book and cancel their travel plans will remain affected. 

The delta variant is wrecking plans of most companies just when they were beginning to bounce back from last year’s lockdowns. The coronavirus variant, which raged in India April-May, is now spreading fast in the U.S., parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Latin America.

Nonetheless, Airbnb expects July-September revenue to be its strongest quarterly revenue on record and to deliver the highest adjusted Ebitda and margin ever.

In the second quarter, the company’s Nights and Experiences Booked almost trebled to 83.1 million. Gross booking value soared 320% to $13.4 billion while revenue quadrupled to $1.3 billion.

Net loss significantly narrowed to $68 million from $575 million in June quarter of 2020.