Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) reported a 26% jump in earnings for the first quarter helped by higher unrealized gains on marketable equity securities. However, the results missed analysts’ expectations. Also, the company guided second-quarter earnings and revenue below the consensus estimates.
Net income increased 26% to $765 million and earnings jumped 37% to $16.85 per share. Adjusted earnings decreased by 7% to $11.17 per share. Total revenues declined by 3% to $2.8 billion. Gross travel bookings inched up 2% to $25.4 billion.
Looking ahead into the second quarter of 2019, the company expects revenue growth in the range of 5% to 7%. Earnings are anticipated to be in the range of $21.10 to $21.55 per share and adjusted earnings are predicted to be in the range of $22.15 to $22.60 per share. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be $1.295 billion to $1.325 billion.
For the second quarter, the company sees room nights booked growth in the range 6% to 8% and total gross travel bookings in the range of down 1% to up 1%.
For the first quarter, gross travel bookings rose by 1.6% year-over-year to $25.41 billion. The results were primarily driven by a 29% growth in Merchant during the quarter. Meanwhile, the agency segment fell 4.4% to $19.68 billion. Room nights units sold increased by 10.3% and Airline tickets rose by 4.4%, while rental car days declined by 1.3%.
In the first week of May, rival Expedia (EXPE) reported a narrower loss for the first quarter supported by a 4% rise in revenues. The positive top-line performance reflects contributions from Expedia Partner Solutions and Brand Expedia. At Vibo, Expedia’s short-term rental business, growth slowed for the second straight month.
Shares of Booking Holdings ended Thursday’s regular session down 0.89% at $1,736.03 on the Nasdaq. Following the earnings release, the stock inched up over 4% in the after-market session.