Should BKNG Stock Be Part of Your Portfolio?
June 01 2021 - 5:44AM
Finscreener.org
Multiple sectors such as airline, travel, energy, hospitality,
and retail have been negatively impacted due to COVID-19. As the
world aims to return towards normalcy driven by the accelerated
rollout of vaccinations it makes sense to look at recovery stocks
that can make a comeback. Here, we analyze one online travel
company Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG)
to see if it’s a good bet today.
Booking Holdings - An overview
Booking Holdings provides travel and restaurant online
reservation services globally. It operates Booking.com which offers
online accommodation reservations while Rentalcars.com provides
online car rental services. Further, Priceline offers online travel
reservation services in the hotel, rental car, and airline
reservation verticals, in addition to vacation packages and
cruises.
Booking Holdings owns Agoda which is an online platform for
hotel, flight, and transportation reservations as well as KAYAK
which is an online price comparison service where you can search
and compare travel itineraries and prices. For online restaurant
reservations, it has OpenTable. The company also offers
travel-related insurance products and restaurant management
services.
It is one of the leading companies in online travel and related
services. The company operates in more than 220 countries and
territories through its six consumer-facing brands.
BKNG stock is valued at a market cap of $96 billion and has been
one of the top performers in the last decade. Since May 2020,
Booking stock has returned 371% compared to the S&P 500
(AMEX:
SPY) returns of 284%.
Booking Holdings recent Q1 results
In the first quarter of 2021, Booking Holdings reported gross
travel bookings of $11.9 billion which was down 4% year over year.
The gross travel bookings include the total dollar value of all
travel services booked by customers on its platforms. While room
nights booked were down 20% year over year, its total sales were
down by a significant 50% at $1.1 billion in the March quarter.
Booking Holdings reported a net loss of $55 million, compared
with its net loss of $699 million in the prior-year period. The
company’s net loss was narrower in Q1 due to a net gain of $32
million on marketable equity securities. Comparatively, it reported
a net loss of $307 million on marketable securities in Q1 of 2020.
Further, Booking’s net loss in the last year was higher due to a
goodwill impairment charge of $489 million related to the OpenTable
and KAYAK.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported a net loss of $5.26
per share or $215 million in Q1 of 2021 compared with a net income
of $3.77 per share or $156 million in Q1 of 2020.
"We saw encouraging signs of improving booking trends in the
first quarter that continued into April with notable strength in
the U.S.," said Glenn Fogel, Chief Executive Officer of Booking
Holdings. "While we expect there will be continued volatility in
the recovery of global travel demand, our teams across Booking
Holdings will continue their hard work to strengthen the
positioning of our company and execute against our key strategic
priorities."
Will BKNG stock continue to move higher?
There are multiple signs that indicate massive pent-up demand
for travel and leisure activities in a post-COVID-19 world. This
has also resulted in a stellar comeback among cruise-line and
airline stocks in the last year as analysts and investors
anticipate the reopening of global economies to drive demand.
Right now, BKNG stock is trading just 6% below its record high
and the aggressive vaccine rollout should impact top-line growth
for the company going forward. However, Booking also derives a
significant portion of its revenue from international markets where
the vaccinations are delivered at a
far more cautious pace.
Analysts tracking BKNG stock expect the company to increase
sales by 37% to $9.31 billion in 2021 and by 56% to $14.5 billion
in 2022. In fiscal 2019, Booking Holdings reported sales of $15
billion. Further, Wall Street expects Booking Holdings to increase
its earnings per share from $4.71 in 2020 to $92.5 in 2022.
The 12-month average trading price for BKNG stock is $2,535
which is 8% above its current price.
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