5 Best Cyclical Stocks To Invest In

3. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78 

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides travel and restaurant online reservation and related services worldwide. The company recently announced that it would be appealing a decision by the European Union to block the purchase of Swedish flight booking provider Etraveli Group. Booking acquired Etraveli in a €1.63 deal in late 2021. Booking said the sale had been cleared by authorities in the US and the UK. Booking aims to combine two separate but complementary Europe-based businesses to deliver more options and competitive pricing.

On October 23, HSBC analyst Meredith Jensen initiated coverage of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $3,650, noting that pandemic accelerated shifts in lifestyle, technology, and behaviors were shaping travel and leisure. 

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, 78 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $6.5 billion in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), compared to 77 in the preceding quarter worth $7 billion. 

In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Ensemble Capital Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was one of them. Here is what the fund said: 

“Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) (+14.21%): Despite macroeconomic worries and inflation eating into global consumers’ ability to spend, households around the world continue to prioritize travel. While so called “revenge travel,” or increased travel spending after being stuck inside during COVID, has likely run its course, global hotel room nights have only recently returned to pre-COVID trends. As COVID has mostly ceased to have an impact on travel, other than in Asia where China’s extended lockdown means a recovery is still ongoing, growth going forward is likely to be more modest. But during COVID, Booking stayed on offense and has been taking market share. Notably, the company’s alternative accommodations offering has grown substantially and in recent quarters has grown faster than Airbnb.”