Booking beats estimates, brings in record revenue for 2022
By Levi Sumagaysay
Booking Holdings Inc. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates, and its CEO said the company brought in record revenue for 2022.
"We generated our highest-ever level of revenue of $17 billion in the year," Booking (BKNG) Chief Executive Glenn Fogel said in a news release. "We are encouraged by the continued strength and resiliency of demand from travelers last year and into the new year."
The travel-booking company, whose brands include Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, said gross travel bookings were $27.3 billion, beating the $26.25 billion expected by analysts. Room nights booked rose to 211 million year over year, about even with the 210.9 million analysts expected. Growth in room nights booked was driven by improvements in Asia and the United States, Chief Financial Officer David Goulden said on the company's earnings call.
In response to an analyst's question, Goulden also said on the call that summer bookings are "shaping up quite well."
Booking shares initially fell as much as 2% after hours, then swung to a gain and back to a loss as of 6 p.m. Eastern time. They had ended the regular session slightly lower to close at $2,426.49.
On the company's earnings call with analysts, Fogel announced that Goulden will be retiring in 2024, but is expected to stick around until 2026 to consult for the company. Goulden also announced that the board has authorized a $20 billion stock buyback to begin after the current authorization, with about $3.9 billion remaining, is complete.
The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.23 billion, or $31.92 a share, compared with $618 million, or $15.05 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for amortization, and losses on sales and investments, earnings were $24.74 a share. Revenue rose to $4 billion from nearly $3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast adjusted earnings of $22.01 a share on revenue of $3.9 billion.
For the full year, Booking reported net income of $3.06 billion, or $76.35 a share, compared with $1.17 billion the previous year. Revenue rose to a record $17.1 billion, compared with nearly $11 billion in 2021. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.64 billion, or an adjusted $97.26 a share, on $16.94 billion in revenue.
Company executives gave few specific forecasts on the call, but Goulden said his "best estimate at this time" is for full-year gross bookings growth in the low teens vs. 2022. He also said he expects first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be more than $600 million, vs. analysts' expectation of $637 million.
Shares of Booking have climbed 21% year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up about 4% so far this year.
-Levi Sumagaysay
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 24, 2023 07:56 ET (12:56 GMT)
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