AP – Airbnb said on Tuesday that it earned USD379 million in the second quarter (Q2) on record bookings and rising rates, and the short-term rental giant announced a plan to spend up to USD2 billion to buy its own stock.
The results showed a reversal from losses in the Q2 of both last year and 2019.
Airbnb indicated that its third-quarter revenue will be better than analysts currently forecast, although the gross value of bookings in the Q2 fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Airbnb has benefitted from the increase in travel and the exodus of workers from offices, which frees them to work from just about anywhere they can get Internet access.
Bookings in the Q2 were about one-fourth higher than last year and 2019, but their gross value of USD17.0 billion was slightly below analysts’ forecast of more than USD17.1 billion, according to FactSet. Chief Financial Officer Dave Stephenson said the gross value of bookings is still rising sharply compared with 2019.
The San Francisco-based company said customers were making more international bookings. Listings away from major cities rose nearly 50 per cent compared with the Q2 of 2019, and Airbnb said urban listings grew compared with the previous three months.
Stephenson said Airbnb saw higher numbers of cancellations late in the quarter, which he blamed on airlines cancelling flights. Most of the cancellations were in North America, Stephenson said. He did not give figures.
Airbnb said the daily rate paid by renters averaged USD164, up one per cent from a year ago and 40 per cent from the same period in 2019. The shift in bookings – from cities to less populated areas such as beach and mountain destinations, and toward renting an entire house – has helped drive prices higher.
Stephenson said, however, that now it’s mostly just price appreciation, which “has been stickier than what we anticipated maybe six months ago”.
Airbnb said that excluding stock-based compensation and some other costs, it earned USD0.56 per share.
Revenue rose 58 per cent from a year earlier and 73 per cent from the Q2 of 2019, to USD2.10 billion. Analysts expected revenue of USD2.11 billion, according to a FactSet survey.
Airbnb said Q3 revenue would be between USD2.78 billion and USD2.88 billion on “slightly higher” average rental prices. Analysts expect USD2.77 billion.
Airbnb’s stock fell more than eight per cent in about two hours of extended trading.
