10 Best Travel and Leisure Stocks to Buy Now

2) Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 97

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has been categorised as world’s largest online travel agency in terms of revenue. The company offers booking services for hotel and alternative accommodation rooms, airline tickets, rental cars, and other vacation packages.

Analyst Daniel Kurnos covered the company’s shares and upgraded them to “Buy” from “Hold.” The analyst has a price target of $4,700. Analyst believes that its growth internationally builds up confidence that it might surpass Wall Street estimates in the upcoming 18 months and beyond. It can also continue to increase its market share, furthering improving its presence in North America.

The bullish thesis for the stock is being supported by the fact that travel industry is all set to see passenger volumes reach record levels by the end of 2024. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has strong catalysts in its favor, apart from its healthy fundamentals. It continues to see a period of rapid growth. The company’s revenues nearly doubled between 2021 and 2023 and it increased its overall profitability too.

The number of hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database owning stakes in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stand at 97 in Q1 2024. The consolidated value of such stakes is ~$7.90 million.

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.”