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4. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Latest Fiscal Year Annual Growth Rate: 25.01%

Bridgewater Associates’ Q1 2024 Investment: $97 million

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a global travel services provider whose platform enables users to manage their travel. The fact that it is a globally recognized brand name, recorded 560 million visits to its website in March 2024, and had over 100 million users on its app makes Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s future quite robust as far as market share is concerned. These statistics insulate the company against competition from current or potential rivals. However, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has to ensure that it keeps up with the industry in offering unique features that improve customer satisfaction. On this front, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has been integrating AI features into its platform, and its AI Trip Planner allows customers to use the firm’s database of hotels and users to tailor them and deliver unique responses to queries. Key headwinds remain in the form of a global economic slowdown and disruptions to the travel industry such as those during the pandemic.

Wedgewood Partners mentioned Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its Q1 2024 investor letter. Here is what the firm said:

Booking Holdings contributed negatively to relative performance. The Company grew bookings on their platforms +16% and reported +22% growth in adjusted operating income during their fourth quarter of 2023. We think the market is cautious about the Company’s results for 2024 because they will be lapping very high levels of growth compared to those in 2023 (full year 2023 bookings growth +24%). However, Booking’s end markets continue to be quite healthy, outside of geographies affected by war because consumers still have plenty of wallet share to re-dedicate to travel compared to pre-COVID-19 numbers. We applaud the Company as they aggressively repurchase shares at valuation levels well below the market and peers. This should serve to compound our ownership in Booking’s business, which has exceptional profitability.