1. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), which offers booking and payment services for hotel and other lodging rooms, airline tickets, rental cars, restaurant reservations, cruises, experiences, and other vacation packages, is the largest online travel agency in the world based on sales. The company owns and runs multiple branded travel booking websites, such as Booking.com, Agoda, OpenTable, and Rentalcars.com. With the acquisition of Kayak and Momondo, it has now entered the travel media space. The majority of the revenue and profits come from transaction fees for online reservations.
The firm is showing strong financial health and a strong network advantage. It has a strong position in the Asia-Pacific region, ongoing leadership in Europe, and a growing presence in the booking of restaurants, experiences, flights, and hotels, all of which are supported by advanced marketing and technological scale.
The fact that the travel industry is expected to witness record-breaking passenger volumes by the end of 2024 lends credence to the bullish thesis around the company. Aside from its good fundamentals, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has strong catalysts working in its favor. It is still going through a phase of fast expansion. Between 2021 and 2023, the company’s revenues almost doubled, and its total profitability rose as well.
In light of the Booking’s solid financial performance, attractive valuation, and excellent room-night growth, Mizuho Securities analyst James Lee reiterated his Buy recommendation for the company.
Strong growth was shown by the firm in Q2 2024 in several important categories, including a 7% increase in room nights booked and a 4% increase in gross travel bookings YoY. Its revenues increased by 7% YoY, showing strong demand in the tourism industry. The net income increased by 18% to $1.5 billion, which resulted in a 27% rise in EPS to $44.38 YoY.
Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released first quarter 2024 investor letter and mentioned about Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG). Here is what the company said:
“Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) 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.”
Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is the largest shareholder in the company, with 405,313 shares worth $1.605 billion.
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