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Booking Holdings (BKNG) Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Q1 Loss
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Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG - Free Report) reported a non-GAAP loss of $5.26 per share in first-quarter 2021, which was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate for a loss of $7.26 per share. Further, the figure compares unfavorably with earnings per share of $3.77 in the year-ago quarter and a loss of 57 cents per share inthe previous quarter.
Revenues of $1.14 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.12 billion. However, the top line declined 50% year over year and 7.8% sequentially.
The pandemic has continued to remain the biggest headwind in the reported quarter. The increasing number of COVID-19 cases worldwide, resulting in travel restrictions, hurt the performance of the company in the first quarter.
Booking Holdings witnessed a year-over-year decline of 15.1% inrental car in the reported quarter.
Additionally, the company witnessed sluggish agency, merchant, and advertising and other business revenues in the reported quarter.
Also, the booked room night number, which was 99 million in the first quarter, plunged 20.1% from the prior-year quarter.
Nevertheless, it witnessed a year-over-year improvement of 62.1% in the airline tickets unit in the reported quarter.
Notably, the pandemic remains a major headwind for the travel industry in the near term.
Nevertheless, the company’s highly variable cost structure and strong liquidity position are expected to help it navigate amid the crisis. Moreover, its solid cost-cutting initiatives are added positives.
Booking Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Booking Holdings generates the bulk of revenues from international markets, wherein, the agency model is more popular. This is reflected in the merchant/agency split of revenues, which were 32.7/62.8% in the first quarter (the previous quarter’s split was 30.4/65.4%)
Merchant revenues were $373 million, down 43.4% year over year.Further, Agency revenues were $717 million, down 49.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Advertising & Other revenues were $51 million (4.5% of total revenues), decreasing 75.1% from the year-ago quarter. These are non-inter-company revenues from Kayak and OpenTable.
Bookings
Booking Holdings’ overall gross bookings totaled$11.9 billion, down 3.7% year over year on a reported basis. Further, the figure was down 6% inconstant currency from the year-ago quarter.
Nevertheless, total gross bookings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.3 billion.
Merchant bookings were $3.2 billion, down 20.7% from the prior-year quarter. Further, agency bookings rose4.6% year over year to $8.7 billion.
Operating Results
Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was a negative $195 million against $290 million in the prior-year quarter.
Per management, operating expenses were $1.4 billion, down 44.1% on a year-over-year basis.
Notably, the company generated an operating loss of $311 million compared with aloss of $309 million in the year-ago period.
Balance Sheet
As of Mar 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were$12.2 billion, down from $10.6 billion as of Dec 31, 2020.
Further, short-term investments amounted to $500 million in the reported quarter compared with $501 million in the previous quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, Booking Holdings had $9.9 billion of long-term debt, down from $11.03 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Booking Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Long-term earnings growth rate of Pure Storage, NVIDIA and Agilent, is pegged at 52.21%, 15.05% and 9%, respectively.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
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Booking Holdings (BKNG) Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Q1 Loss
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG - Free Report) reported a non-GAAP loss of $5.26 per share in first-quarter 2021, which was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate for a loss of $7.26 per share. Further, the figure compares unfavorably with earnings per share of $3.77 in the year-ago quarter and a loss of 57 cents per share inthe previous quarter.
Revenues of $1.14 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.12 billion. However, the top line declined 50% year over year and 7.8% sequentially.
The pandemic has continued to remain the biggest headwind in the reported quarter. The increasing number of COVID-19 cases worldwide, resulting in travel restrictions, hurt the performance of the company in the first quarter.
Booking Holdings witnessed a year-over-year decline of 15.1% inrental car in the reported quarter.
Additionally, the company witnessed sluggish agency, merchant, and advertising and other business revenues in the reported quarter.
Also, the booked room night number, which was 99 million in the first quarter, plunged 20.1% from the prior-year quarter.
Nevertheless, it witnessed a year-over-year improvement of 62.1% in the airline tickets unit in the reported quarter.
Notably, the pandemic remains a major headwind for the travel industry in the near term.
Nevertheless, the company’s highly variable cost structure and strong liquidity position are expected to help it navigate amid the crisis. Moreover, its solid cost-cutting initiatives are added positives.
Booking Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Booking Holdings Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Booking Holdings Inc. Quote
Top Line in Detail
Booking Holdings generates the bulk of revenues from international markets, wherein, the agency model is more popular. This is reflected in the merchant/agency split of revenues, which were 32.7/62.8% in the first quarter (the previous quarter’s split was 30.4/65.4%)
Merchant revenues were $373 million, down 43.4% year over year.Further, Agency revenues were $717 million, down 49.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Advertising & Other revenues were $51 million (4.5% of total revenues), decreasing 75.1% from the year-ago quarter. These are non-inter-company revenues from Kayak and OpenTable.
Bookings
Booking Holdings’ overall gross bookings totaled$11.9 billion, down 3.7% year over year on a reported basis. Further, the figure was down 6% inconstant currency from the year-ago quarter.
Nevertheless, total gross bookings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.3 billion.
Merchant bookings were $3.2 billion, down 20.7% from the prior-year quarter. Further, agency bookings rose4.6% year over year to $8.7 billion.
Operating Results
Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was a negative $195 million against $290 million in the prior-year quarter.
Per management, operating expenses were $1.4 billion, down 44.1% on a year-over-year basis.
Notably, the company generated an operating loss of $311 million compared with aloss of $309 million in the year-ago period.
Balance Sheet
As of Mar 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were$12.2 billion, down from $10.6 billion as of Dec 31, 2020.
Further, short-term investments amounted to $500 million in the reported quarter compared with $501 million in the previous quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, Booking Holdings had $9.9 billion of long-term debt, down from $11.03 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Booking Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector worth consideration are Agilent Technologies (A - Free Report) , Pure Storage (PSTG - Free Report) and NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) . All companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Long-term earnings growth rate of Pure Storage, NVIDIA and Agilent, is pegged at 52.21%, 15.05% and 9%, respectively.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>