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Shares of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) are down about 3% in premarket trading Thursday after the company reported Q2 results and offered forward-looking commentary during the earnings call.
The online travel company reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $19.08, compared to a loss per share of $2.55 in the year-ago period, while analysts were expecting EPS of $17.52. Revenue came in at $4.29 billion, up 99% YoY, though below the consensus projection of $4.33 billion.
BKNG reported an adjusted EBITDA of $1.09 billion, up from $48 million in the year-ago quarter, and topping the analyst consensus of $963 million. Gross bookings stood at $34.55 billion in the three-month period, up 57% YoY, and above the expected $32.76 billion. Rooms and nights sold totaled 246 million, up 57% YoY, beating the estimates of 239.7 million.
The company’s CEO Glenn D. Fogel says he expects record revenue in the third quarter.
“Looking forward, we expect record Q3 revenue and are very busy working with our customers and partners to help enable an extremely busy summer travel season,” said Fogel.
During the earnings call, Booking said that its July 3-year revenue growth slowed to 4%, compared to the 16% in Q2. Shares of Booking erased after-hours gains after these comments.
An analyst from RBC said BKNG delivered “good results” but the offered guidance and commentary were “tough”.
“While acknowledging the disappointing July rn slowdown, our thesis on BKNG generally remains intact: likely U.S. share gains (check), disproportionate to APAC keeping more growth still in the tank (check) and underappreciated new customer acquisition drivers like air & payments (check & check),” the analyst said in a client note.
A Goldman Sachs analyst added that Booking’s results show continued travel demand.
“Over the remainder of this year, we expect the main investor debate to remain on the volatility in macroeconomic conditions and its resultant impact on global online travel trends. Looking beyond just this quarterly report, Booking management continues to focus on long-term revenue dollar scale opportunities and remains committed to aligning investments towards that opportunity set,” the analyst wrote in a note.
