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BKNG vs RCL
BKNG vs RCL Stock Comparison: Earnings Recap + Travel Sector Momentum
Key Takeaways
- Booking Holdings (BKNG) reported Q4 2025 revenue of $6.35 billion, up 16% year-over-year, beating estimates; adjusted EPS of $48.80 also topped consensus.
- Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) posted Q4 2025 revenue of $4.3 billion, up 13% year-over-year, with adjusted EPS of $2.80 meeting expectations.
- Both companies issued optimistic 2026 guidance: BKNG eyes low double-digit revenue growth and mid-teens adjusted EPS growth; RCL forecasts double-digit revenue and adjusted EPS of $17.70-$18.10.
- BKNG's room nights grew 9% in Q4, while RCL achieved record WAVE season bookings with two-thirds of 2026 capacity sold at elevated rates.
- BKNG trades at a trailing P/E of ~28 with market cap ~$138B; RCL at ~20 with ~$87B, reflecting BKNG's asset-light model premium.
- Travel demand remains robust, but BKNG's AI investments and RCL's fleet expansion position both for sustained growth amid economic cycles.
Earnings Context and Why This Comparison Matters
Booking Holdings and Royal Caribbean Cruises represent distinct yet complementary segments of the travel industry: online travel agencies versus cruise operators. BKNG facilitates accommodations and experiences globally through platforms like Booking.com, while RCL delivers immersive vacation packages via its fleet. Both benefited from post-pandemic travel resurgence, with recent Q4 2025 earnings highlighting resilient demand. This comparison matters as leisure spending patterns influence sector performance; BKNG's digital scalability contrasts RCL's capacity-driven model, offering investors diversified exposure to travel recovery and future innovations like AI personalization and new ships.
Booking Holdings Focus
Booking Holdings released Q4 2025 earnings on February 18, 2026, reporting revenue of $6.35 billion, surpassing estimates of $6.12-$6.25 billion and up 16% from Q4 2024. Adjusted EPS reached $48.80, beating consensus of $48.23 by 1.17%, while GAAP EPS was $44.22. Gross bookings hit $43.0 billion (up 16%), driven by 9% room nights growth to 285 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose 19% to $2.2 billion with a 34.6% margin. Full-year 2025 revenue grew 13% to $26.9 billion, with adjusted EPS up 22% to $228.06.
Guidance signals momentum: Q1 2026 room nights up 5-7%, revenue growth 14-16%; full-year low double-digits revenue and mid-teens adjusted EPS growth. Strategic highlights include $550 million in savings from transformation programs, reinvested in AI, a 25-for-1 stock split effective April 2, 2026, and $2.1 billion share repurchases in Q4.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Context
Royal Caribbean reported Q4/full-year 2025 results on January 29, 2026, with Q4 revenues of $4.3 billion (up 13% YoY) and adjusted EPS of $2.80, aligning with expectations. Net income was $0.8 billion. Full-year revenues reached $17.9 billion, adjusted EPS $15.64 (up over 30% YoY), and adjusted EBITDA $7.0 billion. Net yields grew 3.1% as-reported in Q4, supported by strong onboard spending.
2026 outlook projects double-digit revenue and adjusted EPS growth ($17.70-$18.10), with 6.7% capacity increase and net yields up 1.5-3.5% constant currency. Record WAVE season bookings filled two-thirds of capacity at premium rates, bolstered by fleet expansions including new Discovery Class ships and river cruises.
Head-to-Head Earnings and Market Comparison
BKNG demonstrated superior top-line growth (16% Q4 revenue vs. RCL's 13%), leveraging its asset-light model for higher margins (Adjusted EBITDA 34.6% vs. RCL's implied ~35%). Both beat or met EPS expectations, but BKNG's scale yields massive absolute earnings (~$1.4B net income Q4). Growth drivers diverge: BKNG's AI-enhanced "Connected Trip" and global diversification versus RCL's experiential cruises and yield discipline.
Risk exposure differs—BKNG faces macroeconomic sensitivity in discretionary bookings, while RCL contends with fuel costs, geopolitical itineraries, and capacity constraints. Market caps reflect premiums: BKNG ~$138B (P/E ~28), RCL ~$87B (P/E ~20). Sentiment favors both amid travel strength, though RCL's recent outperformance highlights cruise momentum.
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Tickeron AI Verdict
Tickeron AI currently favors RCL with 60% probability over the next 6-12 months, driven by lower P/E valuation, stronger recent stock momentum, and cruise sector yield growth amid robust bookings. BKNG offers stability via higher margins and AI upside (40% probability), but RCL's capacity expansion and earnings trajectory edge it for trend strength.
To compare these two companies we present long-term analysis, their fundamental ratings and make comparative short-term technical analysis which are presented below. The conclusion is BKNG is a StrongBuy and RCL is a StrongBuy.
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
BKNG’s FA Score shows that 2 FA rating(s) are green whileRCL’s FA Score has 3 green FA rating(s).
- BKNG’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
- RCL’s FA Score: 3 green, 2 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
BKNG’s TA Score shows that 5 TA indicator(s) are bullish while RCL’s TA Score has 6 bullish TA indicator(s).
- BKNG’s TA Score: 5 bullish, 4 bearish.
- RCL’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 3 bearish.
Price Growth
BKNG (@Consumer Sundries) experienced а -3.86% price change this week, while RCL (@Consumer Sundries) price change was -1.06% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Consumer Sundries industry was -1.61%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +10.99%, and the average quarterly price growth was -7.15%.
Reported Earning Dates
BKNG is expected to report earnings on Aug 05, 2026.
RCL is expected to report earnings on Jul 23, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Consumer Sundries (-1.61% weekly)Consumer sundries companies make products that usually do not have another classification, such as lawn and garden products, pest-control products, pet food and pet products like leashes, collars, and harnesses. Central Garden & Pet Company and Dogness (International) Corporation are examples of companies operating in this industry.
| BKNG | RCL | BKNG / RCL | |
| Capitalization | 131B | 83B | 158% |
| EBITDA | 9.8B | 7.39B | 133% |
| Gain YTD | -21.305 | 12.083 | -176% |
| P/E Ratio | 22.13 | 18.87 | 117% |
| Revenue | 27.7B | 18.4B | 151% |
| Total Cash | 16B | 512M | 3,125% |
| Total Debt | 18.9B | 21.8B | 87% |
BKNG | RCL | ||
|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 36 | 40 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 97 Overvalued | 49 Fair valued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 30 | 24 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 1 | 20 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 56 | 16 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 83 | 67 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 65 | 50 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
RCL's Valuation (49) in the Hotels Or Resorts Or Cruiselines industry is somewhat better than the same rating for BKNG (97) in the Other Consumer Services industry. This means that RCL’s stock grew somewhat faster than BKNG’s over the last 12 months.
RCL's Profit vs Risk Rating (24) in the Hotels Or Resorts Or Cruiselines industry is in the same range as BKNG (30) in the Other Consumer Services industry. This means that RCL’s stock grew similarly to BKNG’s over the last 12 months.
BKNG's SMR Rating (1) in the Other Consumer Services industry is in the same range as RCL (20) in the Hotels Or Resorts Or Cruiselines industry. This means that BKNG’s stock grew similarly to RCL’s over the last 12 months.
RCL's Price Growth Rating (16) in the Hotels Or Resorts Or Cruiselines industry is somewhat better than the same rating for BKNG (56) in the Other Consumer Services industry. This means that RCL’s stock grew somewhat faster than BKNG’s over the last 12 months.
RCL's P/E Growth Rating (67) in the Hotels Or Resorts Or Cruiselines industry is in the same range as BKNG (83) in the Other Consumer Services industry. This means that RCL’s stock grew similarly to BKNG’s over the last 12 months.
| BKNG | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 6 days ago 82% | N/A |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 57% | 2 days ago 69% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 77% | 2 days ago 77% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 78% | 2 days ago 86% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 74% | 2 days ago 81% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 70% | 2 days ago 79% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 8 days ago 71% | 9 days ago 82% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 16 days ago 59% | 7 days ago 72% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 64% | 2 days ago 66% |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 72% | 2 days ago 82% |
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BKNG and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, BKNG has been closely correlated with EXPE. These tickers have moved in lockstep 68% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is a high statistical probability that if BKNG jumps, then EXPE could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To BKNG | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BKNG | 100% | -2.33% | ||
| EXPE - BKNG | 68% Closely correlated | -1.20% | ||
| ABNB - BKNG | 53% Loosely correlated | -2.26% | ||
| MMYT - BKNG | 46% Loosely correlated | -1.28% | ||
| CCL - BKNG | 43% Loosely correlated | -2.20% | ||
| RCL - BKNG | 40% Loosely correlated | -1.01% | ||
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