Airbnb (ABNB) stock climbed again on Thursday, extending gains after the company’s strong second-quarter earnings report. The stock opened at $180.10 and hit an intraday high of $185.33, close to its 52-week high of $187.12.
Q2 revenue came in at $3.61 billion, up 16.3% year over year and ahead of the $3.58 billion analyst estimate. EPS of $1.37 beat the consensus of $1.26 by $0.11.
Nights and seats booked grew 10% to 148.3 million in the quarter. Gross booking value rose 16% to $27.2 billion. Travel demand tied to the FIFA World Cup was a tailwind.
Free cash flow jumped 30% to $1.25 billion, giving the company room to pursue acquisitions and expand its platform.
CEO Brian Chesky has made AI central to Airbnb’s strategy. “We’ve rebuilt Airbnb from the ground up to be an AI-native company, and it’s showing up in our results,” he said in a shareholder letter.
AI tools are helping hosts list properties more easily and helping guests find them faster. The technology is also speeding up how quickly Airbnb can roll out new features.
Airbnb is pushing beyond short-term home rentals into hotels, car rentals, and grocery delivery. Chesky said on the analyst call that entrepreneurs are eager to partner with Airbnb, pointing to a wide pool of potential acquisition targets.
“Entrepreneurs would love to be part of Airbnb and to hold stock,” he said.
The company’s return on equity stands at 33.38%, with a net margin of 20.45%. Full-year EPS is expected to come in around $5.22, according to analyst consensus.
Wall Street is broadly positive on the stock. Wells Fargo raised its price target to $186 with an “overweight” rating after earnings. DA Davidson and Jefferies both lifted their targets to $175 with “buy” ratings.
The average analyst price target sits at $172, below where the stock is currently trading. The overall consensus is “Moderate Buy” from 39 analysts, with 23 Buy ratings, 12 Hold, and 2 Sell.
Institutional investors own 80.76% of ABNB. Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its stake by 26.6% in Q2, selling 45,509 shares. Some smaller funds added positions, including NewEdge Advisors and Sivia Capital Partners.
Insider selling has been a watch item. Director Joseph Gebbia sold around 295,000 shares at $148.43 in late June, totaling roughly $43.8 million. CEO Chesky sold about 266,000 shares at $132.22 in late May.
In total, insiders have sold 3.16 million shares worth around $466.6 million over the past 90 days. Corporate insiders still own 27.21% of the company.
The stock trades at a P/E ratio of around 41, with a 50-day moving average of $146.86 and a 200-day moving average of $136.96.
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