Booking (BKNG) shares surge 12% after crushing estimates; Analysts boost numbers

Booking (NASDAQ: BKNG) shares rose more than 12% in pre-market Friday trading after the company reported stronger-than-expected Q2 results.

Revenue rose 27% year-over-year to $5.46 billion, topping the consensus of $5.16B. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $37.62 a share, crushing the expected $28.87.

Gross bookings jumped 15% YoY to $39.69B, ahead of the expected $38.11B.

“In the second quarter, we continued to see robust leisure travel demand, which helped drive stronger than expected room nights and gross bookings results in the quarter,” said Glenn Fogel, Booking Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.

“We have seen these strong trends continue into July, and we are currently preparing for what we expect to be a record summer travel season in the third quarter.”

Barclays analyst Mario Lu said Booking remains his preferred name within Online Travel. He raised the price target on Booking to $3,740 from $3,130 while maintaining an Overweight rating.

"BKNG continues to execute well against its strength of optimizing for ROI while also gaining share in newer verticals such as flights, bringing its Connected Trip vision to life. Updated FY23 bookings growth guidance of 20%+ is well ahead of its OTA peers," the analyst noted.

Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan hiked the price target by $210 to $3,060 on BKNG stock, but remains Neutral-rated.

"The medium term demand curve related to consumer spending habits still remains as the key short-term debate for both the stock & the online travel industry more broadly. Looking long-term, BKNG management continues to focus on long-term revenue dollar scale opportunities with a mixture of aligning investments over the past few years towards that opportunity set to increase wallet share of travel and increase the scale of direct customer connections with the platform," Sheridan said.

By Senad Karaahmetovic

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