14 Best Consumer Discretionary Stocks to Buy Right Now

3. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 95

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is one of the 14 Best Consumer Discretionary Stocks to Buy Right Now.

On February 20, JPMorgan reduced its target price on Booking Holdings by 10.4% to $5,600 (from $6,250), while maintaining its Overweight rating. This price update comes after Booking Holdings released its Q4 results, which the firm described as “strong” and its outlook as “encouraging”. It also thinks that management’s guidance could have some upside, given the company’s multi-year track record and additional savings from its “Transformation Program”.

This research update comes a couple of days after Booking Holdings released its Q4 earnings report on February 18, which showed rapid earnings growth across both GAAP and non-GAAP measures. GAAP net income and GAAP earnings per share grew 34% YoY (to $1.4 billion) and 38% YoY (to $44.22 per share), respectively. On non-GAAP metrics, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share grew 19% YoY (to $2.2 billion) and 17% YoY (to $48.80 per share), respectively.

The rapid earnings growth was driven by both revenue growth and profit margin expansion. Revenue grew 16% YoY to $6.3 billion, as more room nights were booked (9% YoY growth to 285 million) at higher average daily rates (6% YoY growth to $151 per night). Net income margins, meanwhile, improved 300 basis points YoY to 22.5%, as the company’s “Transformation Program” enabled ~$550 million in annualized run-rate savings.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides online travel and related solutions through its brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable. The company is based in Norwalk, Connecticut, and was founded in July 1997 by Jay Scott Walker.