2. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 93
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a leader in the online travel and restaurant services industry and is trading at $1,865 a share, as of November 9. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) had a reverse stock split back in June 2003 which was a 1-for-6 split. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a viable candidate for a potential stock split because of the company’s leading position, strong track record of profitability and revenue growth, and mature business model. The stock ranks among the stocks that may be splitting soon.
On November 2, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced earnings for the fiscal third quarter of 2022. The company reported an EPS of $53.03 and beat estimates by $3.18. The company generated a revenue of $6.05 billion, up 29.43% year over year, and outperformed Wall Street consensus by $133.35 million.
This November, BofA analyst Justin Post raised his price target on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) to $2,250 from $2,200 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. On November 3, Deutsche Bank analyst Lee Horowitz raised his price target on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) to $2,370 from $2.280 and reiterated a Buy rating on the shares.
At the end of Q2 2022, 93 hedge funds were eager on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) and disclosed stakes worth $5.45 billion in the company. Of those, Harris Associates was the leading shareholder in the company and held a position worth $1.07 billion.
Here is what RiverPark Funds had to say about Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its third-quarter 2022 investor letter:
“We also bought back a small position in Booking Holdings during the quarter. Booking is the world’s leader in online travel, operating in 200 countries with brands including Booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com, Kayak, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable. The company has been a dominant on-line travel agency for more than a decade with a high margin business model (40% EBITDA margin for 2019 and 28% for 2021) that requires limited capital expenditures, typically less than 3% of revenue, producing $4.5 billion free cash flow for 2019 and $2.5 billion for 2021 (due to the vast COVID disruption). The company has used its free cash flow for episodic acquisitions as well as to return cash to shareholders. BKNG is well positioned in travel as the largest player in online lodging bookings and the second largest player in alternative accommodations. Like all travel companies, Booking was hit hard by the pandemic, but with its high international exposure, we expect the company’s recovery to be equally strong as travel returns.”
