5 Best Bargain Stocks To Buy Right Now

On October 29, Truist analyst Naved Khan lowered the price target on Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) to $2,500 from $2,600, keeping a Buy rating on the shares. According to the analyst, the company’s Q3 results should be favorable amid strong demand, positive traffic trends, and commentary from Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms confirming an increase in travel ad expenditure. An increase in U.S. dollar strength is an incremental headwind however, with the analyst contending that the management’s commentary on October trends and outlook for Q4 2022 will be crucial for the stock in the long term.

Here is what RiverPark Funds had to say about Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in their Q3 2022 investor letter:

“We also bought back a small position in Booking Holdings during the quarter. Booking is the world’s leader in online travel, operating in 200 countries with brands including Booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com, Kayak, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable. The company has been a dominant on-line travel agency for more than a decade with a high margin business model (40% EBITDA margin for 2019 and 28% for 2021) that requires limited capital expenditures, typically less than 3% of revenue, producing $4.5 billion free cash flow for 2019 and $2.5 billion for 2021 (due to the vast COVID disruption). The company has used its free cash flow for episodic acquisitions as well as to return cash to shareholders. BKNG is well positioned in travel as the largest player in online lodging bookings and the second largest player in alternative accommodations. Like all travel companies, Booking was hit hard by the pandemic, but with its high international exposure, we expect the company’s recovery to be equally strong as travel returns.”