15 Highest-Priced Stocks Right Now

Page 11 of 13

3. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Share Price on February 14: $5,044.40

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides travel and restaurant reservations online, along with other related services. It owns and operates several renowned platforms, including Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak, and OpenTable.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) recently announced a strategic partnership with Antom, a leading provider of merchant payment and digitization services, to improve the payment experience for its Asian customers. The partnership will leverage Antom’s cross-border payment capabilities and multi-currency offerings to offer a more tailored customer experience for Booking.com users.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is among the highest-priced stocks right now, with its share price delivering impressive returns of 35% over the past year. Investor optimism in the stock continues to strengthen as international travel returns to pre-pandemic levels.

During its recent Q3 2024 earnings call, the company reported an 8% year-over-year increase in room nights booked. Total revenue for the quarter was $8 billion, up 9% from last year, while the net income of $2.5 billion remained in line with the prior year’s results. Gross travel bookings were $43.4 billion, growing 9% compared to Q3 2023.

Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund stated the following regarding Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

The largest contributors to returns were Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) and Liberty Formula One (FWONK). BKNG is the leading global travel platform (larger than Airbnb and Expedia combined on an annual room nights booked basis). Operating trends continue to be strong driven by tailwinds from global travel demand and new CFO Ewout Steenbergen finding cost efficiencies following a period of investment. This resulted in third-quarter revenue growth of 9% driving Earnings Per Share growth of 16%, a run rate we believe is now sustainable for the business. BKNG has been a highly successful investment, delivering returns of 130% since our first investment in December 2022. But going forward we see less value latency and have consequently begun to redeploy capital into more compelling opportunities.

Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) with a consensus Buy rating. According to Insider Monkey’s database for Q3 2024, 93 hedge funds held a stake in the company, reflecting the strong investor sentiment.

Page 11 of 13