BKNG US S&P 500NASDAQ-100Russell 1000 Earnings call · transcribed from the recording
Booking Holdings (BKNG) · Q3 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $160.21 · 2026-11-11
Booking Holdings provides online travel reservation services, including accommodations, flights, ground transportation, and activities. The company operates a portfolio of brands that connect travelers with service providers through platforms for booking, payment facilitation, and restaurant management. Source: 10-K annual report (2026-02-18)
Results Q3 2026 vs Q2 2026 · previous quarter · published 3 Nov 2026 and 4 Aug 2026
Net income up 39.3% on the previous quarter. Management sounded upbeat, though noticeably less so answering analysts.
Only a basic analysis is available for this company at the moment.
1 · Numbers
+39.3%
Net income vs Q2 2026
Outlook given
Net income 2.72B vs 1.95B
Revenue +21.0%
Against the same quarter last year (Q3 2025) it is −1.1%, so the move on last quarter looks seasonal or timing-related rather than a trend.
2 · How management spoke
Upbeat
More upbeat than 71% of company calls
Answers to analysts: restrained, but clearly less so than the script.
Last call it was different: script and answers matched.
3 · What stood out
Guidance
I also would like to point out that its full year EBITDA margins, Booking expects to be stable.
Valuation
Is Booking Holdings undervalued?
Reverse DCF. Free cash flow from the last full fiscal year (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At 16.3% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $452.40 a share — the stock trades 65% below it. Today's price assumes 2.4% growth a year.
Current price
$160.21
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
+2.4% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$452.40
Buy below
$339.30
Price vs fair value
Undervalued 65%
Price vs buy-below price
Undervalued 53%
Read between the lines
-
Figure
The mobile app mix of total room nights over the past four quarters was in the high 50% range, up from the mid...
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q3 2026. Ring: Q2 2026.
Management sounded noticeably less positive answering analysts than in its prepared script — a bigger drop than in 82% of calls. Scripts are polished in advance; a drop under questioning often marks the topics analysts pressed on, so the answers deserve a closer read than the script.
Sentences that drove the tone
“We delivered 9% adjusted revenue growth while expanding our adjusted EBITDA margin slightly to 47.0%, including stock-based compensation as an expense, a powerful combination of growth and profitability that underscores...”
“Alternative accommodations represented approximately 37% of Booking.com's room nights, up about 1 percentage point from the third quarter of 2025, with room night growth of 7%, improving from 4% growth...”
“Looking at room night growth by Bucha region, Europe grew high single digits with domestic room nights up high single digits.”
Full figures
USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-09-30)
| Metric | Q3 2026period end 2026-09-30 | Q2 2026period end 2026-06-30 | Change | Q3 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 8.89B | 7.35B | +21.0% | 9.01B | −1.3% |
| Operating income | 3.42B | 2.50B | +36.7% | 3.48B | −1.9% |
| Net income | 2.72B | 1.95B | +39.3% | 2.75B | −1.1% |
| EPS | 3.61 | 2.53 | +42.7% | 3.38 | +6.8% |
| P/E today 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | −0.1 | 5.8 | −4.8 |
Topics
Most discussed now
- New OpenTable's agentic interactions with Muse and other horizontal agents have brought a...
- Example here is its new Veo platform users are connecting their email, and Booking is seeing strong conversational engagement with...
- On some of the tangible AI progress, there are four key categories where Booking sees some positive early indicators.
Faded since Q2 2026
- Fading These dynamics create near-term volatility, yet Booking knows from decades of experience that the underlying desire to explore, connect…
- Fading These results reflect the strength of Booking's diversified global platform, disciplined execution across its businesses and its ability to…
- Fading During the second quarter, Level 2 and Level 3 Genius members represented more than 30% of Booking's active customer base...
- Fading It's very much playing to its strength, the optimization models that Booking is running in order to convert at an...
Latest announcements
Official filings, newest first. Summaries are generated from each filing and its attachment; every figure is checked against the source.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
Booking Holdings reported revenue of $7.4 billion, up 8% year-over-year, and net income of $2.0 billion, up 118% compared to the second quarter of 2025.
- Shareholder vote results · SEC 8-K · routine
- Material agreement; New financial obligation; Other events · SEC 8-K
- Material agreement; New financial obligation; Other events · SEC 8-K
Booking Holdings Inc. entered into an agreement for the sale of $750,000,000 of its 5.375% Senior Notes due 2036.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
Booking Holdings reported revenue of $5.5 billion, up 16% year-over-year, and net income of $1.1 billion, up 225% compared to the first quarter of 2025.
- Articles or bylaws amended · SEC 8-K · routine
- Director or officer change · SEC 8-K
Booking Holdings Inc. appointed Caroline Sullivan as Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Controller effective April 29, 2026, with an initial annual base salary of $525,000 and a $300,000 signing bonus.
Balance sheet & ownership
From SEC filings; short interest is FINRA data via Yahoo. Collected 2026-10-13.
Cash & runway
Cash & equivalents
$17.21B
2026-06-30
Long-term investments
$448.0M
total liquidity $17.66B
Implied runway
—
operating cash flow positive over the TTM window
Dilution
weighted-average basic shares, per quarter. Change: -5.4% YoY, -2.8% QoQ.
| Quarter | Shares |
|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | 33.4M |
| Q1 2025 | 821.0M |
| Q2 2025 | 812.0M |
| Q3 2025 | 32.4M |
| Q1 2026 | 790.0M |
| Q2 2026 | 768.0M |
Shares outstanding: 751.4M (2026-07-27)
Insider transactions
Form 4 open-market trades (codes S/P), trailing 12 months. Coverage: newest 50 of 52 filings; 50 filings parsed.
Sold by insiders
168.9K shares
$57.6M · 296 transactions
Bought by insiders
0 shares
0 transactions
Net direction
net selling
Catalyst calendar
management-stated targets — from the latest earnings call; plans, not promises.
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2027
realization of approximately $100 million of incremental annual run rate savings
Source quote
“We expect the approximately $100 million of incremental annual run rate savings to be realized primarily in 2027.”
-
third quarter
room nights to increase between 3% and 5% and for gross bookings, revenue and adjusted EBITDA to each increase between 4% and 6%
Source quote
“We currently expect third quarter room nights to increase between 3% and 5% and for gross bookings, revenue and adjusted EBITDA to each increase between 4% and 6%.”
-
full year
gross bookings, revenue and adjusted EBITDA to each be up high single digits and for adjusted EPS to be up low to mid-teens
Source quote
“On a reported basis, our full year expectation is for gross bookings, revenue and adjusted EBITDA to each be up high single digits and for adjusted EPS to be up low to mid-teens.”
-
over the next few months
capacity of the airline industry gradually to come back
Source quote
“So we expect the capacity of the airline industry gradually to come back over the next few months.”
-
until the end of the third quarter
indirect impact, particularly on airline capacity and flight ticket prices will continue
Source quote
“But as we said, we still expect that the indirect impact, particularly on airline capacity and flight ticket prices will continue until the end of the third quarter in our assumptions and guidance.”