Michael Burry is Selling These 5 Stocks

3. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 93  

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides travel and restaurant online reservation and related services worldwide. On August 3, the company posted earnings for the second quarter of 2022, reporting earnings per share of $19.08, beating market estimates by $1.41. The revenue over the period was $4.3 billion, up over 99% compared to the revenue over the same period last year and missing analyst estimates by $50 million. The firm said the gross travel bookings were $34.5 billion, an increase of 57% from the prior year quarter.

On August 5, Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil maintained a Positive rating on Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stock and lowered the price target to $2,800 from $2,900, noting that travel demand was strong in the second quarter of 2022. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Chicago-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), with 761,500 shares worth more than $1.3 billion.

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, L1 Capital International, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We have been increasing our investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) which now lies on the edge of the top 10 holdings. The investment thesis for Booking, the world’s largest online travel agent (OTA), was outlined in our inaugural June 2019 Quarterly Report. Back then, no-one could have envisaged the subsequent disruption to the travel industry caused by COVID-19. Today the world, outside of China, has adjusted to COVID-19 and life has largely returned to normal. Travel is rapidly normalising with domestic travel ahead of 2019 levels and international travel recovering strongly (see Figure 9).

Yet Booking’s share price is lower than where it was trading post the onslaught of COVID-19 and pre the widespread approval of vaccines. Yes, travel is discretionary, and yes more challenging economic conditions and higher fuel costs will have a negative impact on the travel industry. However, we consider travel activity recovering to prior trend levels is a question of when, not if. Consumers will adapt to economic circumstances – travelling to cheaper destinations, going on holiday for a shorter period or staying at a lower cost hotel, but we still expect travel activity to rapidly recover.”