5 Best Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Buy

1. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 83

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides travel and restaurant online reservation and related services worldwide. On February 23, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) reported a Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $24.74 and a revenue of $4.05 billion, outperforming Wall Street estimates by $2.66 and $150 million, respectively. Revenue for the period increased nearly 36% on a year-over-year basis. 

On February 27, Shyam Patil, an analyst at Susquehanna, increased the firm’s price target on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) from $2650 to $2900 and maintained a Positive rating on the shares. The analyst noted that travel demand was robust in the fourth quarter, with the number of room nights exceeding 2019 levels and increasing even further. Furthermore, January trends have indicated further improvement, which has increased optimism about both the first quarter and 2023.

According to Insider Monkey’s fourth quarter database, 83 hedge funds were bullish on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), compared to 92 funds in the prior quarter. Harris Associates is a prominent stakeholder of the company, with 515,271 shares worth $1 billion. 

Here is what L1 Capital International Fund has to say about Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“During the December 2022 Quarter over 50% of the Fund’s holdings’ share prices increased by more than 10% in local currency with a number of them increasing by more than 20%. Five companies positively contributed over 0.5% (in AUD) to the Fund’s returns for the quarter. We added to our investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) prior to Q3 2022 results due to the share price overly discounting concerns about near term travel activity. Booking’s quarterly results were a standout, with the recovery in the travel industry following COVID-19 disruptions running well ahead of our expectations. Booking’s share price subsequently increased 23% in the December 2022 Quarter and has increased a further 14% so far in 2023 (in USD).”

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