Airbnb jumps after beating Wall Street estimates on strong international travel demand
Consumers spent more than $81 billion on Airbnb in 2024.
Short-term rental giant Airbnb reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ estimates thanks to booming demand for international travel, sending shares up double digits in after-hours trading.
Airbnb reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.74, compared to the $0.58 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. The company reported $461 million in net income, compared to a $349 million loss during the same period last year.
Gross bookings — the amount of money people spent on the platform — came in at $17.6 billion for the quarter, compared with $17.2 billion analysts anticipated and up 13% year over year. In 2024 the company reported $81.8 billion in gross bookings, compared to $73.3 billion in 2023.
Airbnb has also steadily increased its free cash flow, putting it at $4.5 billion for the year and giving it a 40% FCF margin. That allowed it to buy back $3.4 billion in shares in 2024. (As of December 2024, it has the authorization to buy back $3.3 billion more in shares.)
While post-lockdown “revenge travel” may have wound down, consumer demand for travel appears to be healthy.
The company’s results were bolstered by higher international travel, particularly in Asia and Latin America, where bookings grew by more than 20% year over year. Bookings in North America and Europe initially jumped post-2020 but have now moderated.
The company’s cheery earnings reports follows similar news from competitors and others in the travel industry.
Expedia — owner of its namesake platform as well as VRBO, its Airbnb competitor — also beat profit and revenue estimates when it reported earnings last week. Hotels had mixed earnings, while Royal Caribbean reported higher demand for cruises. Booking Holdings, owner of Booking.com, reports on February 20.
