Bookings Holdings shares declined close to -10% Thursday morning.
The company, which operates several travel fares aggregators and travel search engines, reported earnings of $22.49 per share (on a GAAP basis), beating analysts’ estimates of $19.39 per share. The earnings-per-share was also +33% higher compared to the year-ago quarter. Revenue increased +16% year-over-year to touch $3.213 billion, slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of $3.211 billion.
What led to the company’s shares plunging was its weaker-than-expected guidance for the first quarter of 2019, coupled with some downgrades by analysts.
Bookings Holdings’ earnings projection of $9.90 to $10.20 per share for first quarter 2019 was below analysts’ forecast of $11.76 per share (on a GAAP basis). On top of that, it faced two downgrades. Piper Jaffray's Michael Olson downgraded the firm’s stock to neutral from overweight, while lowering his price target to $1,800 a share from $2,100. Oppenheimer's Jed Kelly downgraded Bookings to market perform from outperform.