Stock of the Day

Booking (BKNG)

$199.09

-$6.54 (-3.2%)

Market Cap: $154.51B

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc., is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world.

It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands. Its other brands include KAYAK, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable, Inc. (OpenTable). As of December 31, 2016, Booking.com offered accommodation reservation services for over 1,115,000 properties in over 220 countries and territories on its various Websites and in over 40 languages, which included over 568,000 vacation rental properties (updated property counts were available on the Booking.com Website).

Booking Bull Case

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in Booking Holdings Inc.:

• The company reported a revenue increase of over 8% year-over-year, indicating strong growth in its business operations.
• Booking Holdings Inc. has a solid earnings per share (EPS) forecast of 10.47 for the current year, suggesting potential profitability for investors.
• The current stock price is around $211, which may present a buying opportunity for investors looking for growth in the travel sector.
• With a dividend yield of 0.8% and a payout ratio of 18.58%, the company offers a steady income stream while maintaining a healthy balance for reinvestment.
• Analysts have a positive outlook, with an average price target of $236.45, indicating potential upside for the stock.

Booking Bear Case

Investors should be bearish about investing in Booking Holdings Inc. for these reasons:

• The company has a negative return on equity of 102.96%, which may raise concerns about its efficiency in generating profits from shareholders' equity.
• Despite revenue growth, the net margin of 25.53% could indicate that the company faces challenges in controlling costs.
• Insider selling activity, such as the CFO selling 20,000 shares, may signal a lack of confidence in the company's short-term performance.
• Market volatility in the travel sector could impact future earnings, as consumer behavior remains unpredictable post-pandemic.
• With a significant number of analysts rating the stock as "Buy" or "Hold," there may be limited room for upward movement in the stock price in the near term.

Recent News

• Take A Vacation, Own Booking Holdings (seekingalpha.com)
• Booking Holdings stock: Is Wall Street bullish or bearish? (msn.com)
• Booking Holdings Inc. to Present at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference (finance.yahoo.com)
• Booking Holdings Inc. to Present at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference (prnewswire.com)
• OpenTable Launches Its Largest Suite of New and Updated Product Features for Restaurants (prnewswire.com)
• Booking Holdings Inc. to Present at the Citi 2026 Global TMT Conference (finance.yahoo.com)
• Booking Holdings Inc. to Present at the Citi 2026 Global TMT Conference (prnewswire.com)