Airbnb stock bounced around late Thursday after the vacation rental booking company reported mixed third quarter results. The stock swung between an 11% jump and a 4% loss before settling lower.
San Francisco-based Airbnb said that it earned $2.13 per share on sales of $3.73 billion for the September-ended quarter. Earnings were slightly below the $2.14 per share analysts were expecting, according to FactSet, while revenue snuck past consensus estimates of $3.72 billion.
For the current quarter, Airbnb guided for sales of $2.42 billion at the midpoint of its range, which was in-line with what analysts were forecasting for the December quarter.
"We are seeing strong demand trends in Q4 2024 across core and expansion markets for both long and short lead times," the company said in a shareholder letter. "As a result, we expect year-over-year growth of Nights and Experiences Booked in Q4 2024 to be higher than Q3 2024."
On the stock market today, Airbnb stock is down more than 2% at 143.21 in recent after-hours action.
Airbnb Stock: Q3 By The Numbers
Revenue increased 10% year over year while earnings decreased 68%. However, third-quarter 2023 earnings for Airbnb included a one-time tax benefit of $2.8 billion that drove Airbnb's EPS well above estimates.
Airbnb's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in its most recent quarter increased 7% to $1.96 billion, ahead of estimates of $1.86 billion, according to FactSet.
Meanwhile, Airbnb's gross bookings value climbed 10% to $20.1 billion, compared to estimates of $19.8 billion. Bookings started slower in the company's North America region — Airbnb's largest overall market — before accelerating, the company said.
"After a slower start to the quarter, we saw year-over year growth of Nights and Experiences Booked improve during Q3," the company's shareholder letter said about its North America region. "Domestic travel continues to comprise the vast majority of nights booked within the region, and we continued to see the fastest levels of growth for non-urban destinations and larger group travel."
Airbnb Stock Retakes Long-Term Support Level
Shares of Airbnb rose 60% during the "revenge travel" era of 2023, powering the company's inclusion in the S&P 500. But gains so far this year have been a more modest 7%, underperforming a 25% year-to-date gain for the broader S&P 500.
With its second-quarter report in August, Airbnb warned it was seeing signs of slowing U.S. demand. Shares fell 13% the next day.
But Airbnb stock has rallied the past couple days along with the rest of the market following the election of Donald Trump to a second presidential term. Shares have jumped 7% this week, allowing Airbnb to retake its 200-day moving average.
Further, Airbnb had mostly weak technical and fundamental ratings coming into the report. The stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 68 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The score combines five separate proprietary ratings into one rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Further, Airbnb's IBD Relative Strength Rating is 57 out of 99. The RS Rating means that Airbnb has outperformed 59% of all stocks in IBD's database over the past year. IBD typically recommends focusing on stocks with RS ratings above 80.
