Booking Shares Slide After Soft Outlook Drowns Out Earnings Beat
- Shares sank after the company missed several of its forecasts
- Second-quarter earnings mostly beat analysts’ expectations
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Booking Holdings Inc., the parent company to almost a dozen travel brands including Kayak and Priceline, delivered a disappointing forecast for the third quarter, even as it posted second-quarter results that mostly beat analysts’ expectations. The stock tumbled in Friday trading.
In the current quarter, Booking expects growth of 3% to 5% in room nights sold, Chief Financial Officer Ewout Steenbergen said on a call with investors on Thursday, blaming “mild moderation” in the European travel market. Wall Street was expecting gains of 6.6% in the third quarter. Gross travel bookings should rise 2% to 4%, falling short of the 6.9% analysts predicted, due to a decline in flight prices, the company added.