Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a leading player in the online travel industry, offering services such as hotel reservations, car rentals, and airline ticket bookings. As the company prepares to release its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings on February 20, 2025, Wall Street is keenly watching the anticipated figures. Analysts estimate an earnings per share (EPS) of $35.82 and project revenues to be around $5.18 billion.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate suggests a slightly lower EPS of $35.75, reflecting an 11.72% increase from the previous year. This growth is attributed to strong performance in gross bookings, hotel room nights sold, and airline ticket units sold. Despite a 2.8% downward revision in the EPS estimate over the past month, Booking Holdings has a track record of surpassing earnings estimates, with an average surprise of 16.75% over the last four quarters.
Revenue projections for Booking Holdings stand at $5.19 billion, marking an 8.59% increase from the same quarter last year. This growth is indicative of the company's robust business model and its ability to capitalize on the recovering travel industry. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 34.1 and a price-to-sales ratio of about 7.38 reflect the market's confidence in the company's earnings and revenue potential.
Investors are particularly interested in how the actual results will compare to these estimates, as any deviation could significantly impact the stock's price. A positive earnings surprise could lead to a rise in BKNG's stock price, while a miss might result in a decline. The management's discussion during the earnings call will be crucial in assessing the sustainability of any immediate price changes and future earnings projections.
Booking Holdings' financial metrics, such as an enterprise value to sales ratio of 7.42 and an enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio of 19.12, provide insights into the company's valuation relative to its cash flow. The earnings yield of about 2.93% offers a perspective on the return on investment. Despite a negative debt-to-equity ratio of -4.58, the company's current ratio of approximately 1.23 indicates its ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets.
