Yahoo Finance Airbnb beats on top and bottom line for Q2
Airbnb (ABNB) says it saw strong bookings for the 2nd quarter, with the highest gross nights booked of any quarter in the company’s history. The home-sharing company's gross bookings of $13.4 billion beat the average Wall Street estimate.
The company reported second quarter revenue of $1.335 billion compared with consensus estimates of $1.27 billion. Revenue for Airbnb was up almost 300% year over year and 10% higher compared to the second quarter of 2019.
The company reported a net loss per share of 11 cents, a big beat against Wall Street's estimate of a loss of 39 cents.
In its shareholder letter, the company said it anticipates the impact of COVID-19 and the Delta variant will continue to affect overall travel behavior in the near term. “As a result, year-over-year comparisons for Nights and Experiences Booked and GBV [gross booking value] will continue to be more volatile and non-linear,” read the letter.
“In Q3 we are starting to see the global spread of COVID variants, a patchwork of local travel restrictions and slowing vaccinations adversely impact cancellations and growth of Nights and Experiences Booked. As a result, while we expect Nights and Experiences Booked in Q3 2021 to significantly outperform Q3 2020, we expect Nights and Experiences Booked to come down from Q2 and remain below Q3 2019 levels,” said the letter.
Airbnb says booking trends seen during the pandemic are here to stay, including stays outside of top destinations and long-term stays. Longer stays outside urban areas often bring in higher rates.
Airbnb was one of the first companies to be affected at the pandemic outbreak last year. It quickly raised debt and laid off about 25% of its workers to stay afloat.
However staycations and shorter travel distances became a greater source of revenue for the company as restrictions eased and vacationers looked to work from home in more rural areas for longer periods of time.
For the first quarter of 2021, Airbnb said 24% of nights booked came from stays of at least 28 days versus 14% in 2019.
Airbnb went public in December of 2020. On opening day shares jumped 115% above the company's IPO price of $68.
The stock reached a high of $219.94 in February.
Ines is a markets reporter covering stocks from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre
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