Airbnb posted better-than-expected third-quarter financial results, but provided fourth-quarter guidance that fell a little below Street estimates. The results provide an early look at the state of the travel industry, ahead of coming reports from Expedia, Booking.com and other players.
The short-term real-estate rental company’s stock is trading 3.4% lower in late trading Wednesday to $115.40. For the quarter, Airbnb (ticker: ABNB) posted revenue of $3.4 billion, up 18% from a year ago, and ahead of the Street consensus forecast as tracked by FactSet at $3.34 billion.
Gross bookings were $18.3 billion, up 17% from a year ago, and above consensus at $17.9 billion. Nights and experiences booked were 113.2 million, above consensus at 112.9 million. Net income was $4.4 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year ago, driven by a $2.8 billion noncash gain related to “a valuation allowance” of $2.8 billion or certain deferred tax assets. Excluding that gain, the total would be $1.6 billion. Reported EPS, including the gain, was $6.63 a share, compared with Street consensus at $2.13. Adjusted net income margin was 47%, up from 42% a year ago. headtopics.com
Free cash flow in the quarter was $1.3 billion, above consensus at $1.2 billion, and up 37% from a year ago, while adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was $1.8 billion, above consensus at $1.74 billion, and up 26% from the year-ago quarter.For the fourth quarter, Airbnb sees revenue of between $2.13 billion and $2.17 billion, a little shy of the Street consensus at $2.18 billion, pointing to growth of between 12% and 14%.