Airbnb beats third-quarter estimates as travel demand accelerates; stock surges
Investing.com — Airbnb posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday, as resilient travel demand, higher booking volumes and improved pricing helped the home-sharing platform deliver its fastest revenue growth in more than three years.
The company’s shares surged more than 11% at the open on Friday.
The company reported diluted earnings per share of $3.16, beating analyst estimates of $2.85 by 31 cents. Revenue rose 19% year-over-year to $4.87 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate of $4.75 billion. Revenue growth accelerated from 10% in the year-earlier quarter, reflecting stronger performance across established and expansion markets.
Airbnb’s results point to an acceleration in travel demand and improving operating leverage, while its raised annual outlook suggests management expects the momentum to continue into 2027. Its expanding AI capabilities and investments in hotels, travel services and partnerships are also aimed at broadening its business beyond accommodation bookings.
The results underscore Airbnb’s accelerating business momentum, with growth extending across regions and customer segments. Gross booking value (GBV), a measure of the total value of bookings on its platform, increased 21% to $27.7 billion, while nights and seats booked climbed 16% to 155 million. Average daily rates rose 4% year-over-year to $179, reflecting higher prices and a shift in booking mix.
“ABNB delivered a clean beat-&-raise at a time when peers have been guiding light, leading ’27 #s up,” BTIG analyst Jake Fuller said.
“We had doubted ABNB’s ability coming into the year to find the right balance between margin, investment & growth. Management has clearly done just that & our perspective has improved,” they added.
Net income increased 38% to $1.89 billion from $1.37 billion a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA rose 22% to $2.51 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 52% from 50%, highlighting the company’s ability to convert stronger revenue growth into higher profitability.
“Similar to the 2Q earnings beat, we see the upside primarily driven by better-than-expected revenues,” Truist analysts commented.
Airbnb attributed the improvement to strong travel demand, product enhancements and operating discipline. First-time booker growth accelerated to 13%, its highest level since early 2022, while nights booked in North America recorded their strongest growth in four years. All five of its core markets — the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia — reported accelerating growth.
