Booking holding (NASDAQ: BKNG)’s second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, that clearly shows strong demands to travel despite higher airfares and accommodation prices. – reported by Bloomberg and Reuters referring to the company’s quarterly stock market report.
These numbers are strengthening the opinion that the company giant has no financial problems and technical difficulties lay behind the increasing delay in transferring its debt to accommodation providers. Nevertheless, the company’s behavior and lack of transparent communication raise serious questions.
The online accommodation portal Booking said revenue rose 27% to $5.46 billion, beating analysts’ average forecast of $5.17 billion.
Total gross bookings for the second quarter, which includes all travel services booked by customers without cancellations, rose by 15% to $39.7 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $38.1 billion.
Booking reported second-quarter EPS of $37.62, beating analysts’ estimates of $28.87 by $8.75. Revenue for the quarter was $5.46 billion, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.16 billion.
Booking raised its forecast for gross bookings in the third quarter on Thursday as the rising demands for travel sets off growing costs and the concerns about an uncertain economy.
The holding expects gross bookings, which represent the total dollar value of all travel services booked by customers, to grow by just over 20%, compared to earlier lower expectations of 10%.
According to Booking’s estimate, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will also be 20% higher than last year.
Booking, with Europe being its largest market, beat Wall Streets’ expectations for second-quarter profit.
Within the quarter ended in June, booking of room nights increased by 9% compared to last year, while gross travel bookings jumped by 15%. In July, bookings in Asia were up 45% year-on-year, delivering most of the growth, while being within the single digits in the US.
“We have seen these strong trends continue into July, and we are currently preparing for what we expect to be a record summer travel season in the third quarter.”
– said CEO Glenn Fogel in a statement.
It is unfortunate that the CEO does not say a word about the fact that the company hoarding financial success, has not paid its accumulated debt to a significant part of the accommodation providers since the end of June.
In this article, you can read the prelude of Booking’s payment slippage, and in our most recent article, the current situation regarding Booking’s debts:
