Overblown AI Competition Worries Sees Rating Change for Booking Holdings (BKNG)

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Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a software firm that provides travel services through its web and other platforms. It is one of the largest firms of its kind with more than four million properties in its portfolio.

As of November 28th, 23 out of 39 analyst recommendations for Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) were a Buy. Among the remaining 16, five were a Strong Buy while 11 were Hold. The average share price target for Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was $6,207.21

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s shares were upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Bank of America on November 24th. While the bank kept a $6,000 share price target, it outlined that the impact on the shares from worries about competition from AI was overdone. BofA added that Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stood to benefit from its close relationships with hospitality firms, as it allowed it to retain users on its platform and enjoy an advantage over AI platforms through offering better deals.

Photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash

Better deals, margins, and metrics such as revenue per available room are key determinants of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s performance. The firm’s latest earnings report and the associated earnings call saw management and analysts discuss them. For instance, during the earnings call, after JPMorgan’s Douglas Anmuth asked management about their thoughts on the traffic shift from direct and Google to AI platforms such as ChatGPT, CFO Ewout Steenbergen remarked:

“Yes, maybe a couple of points, Doug. Just you also asked about the economics and some of the data. So first of all, what we are seeing in terms of traditional search that we still see volume growth. So travel clicks that are coming to us from traditional search are still going up year-over-year. That, of course, might change over time, but I think that is an important data point. The other is the number of leads that we’re receiving from large language models relatively small, but it is growing. And probably over time, these 2 worlds might become more hybrid because we are seeing, of course, more AI being built into browsers at this point in time. What are we measuring in terms of impact, ultimately, faster search, better conversion, lower cancellation rates and higher customer satisfaction, very early signals we’re having around it. But overall, very encouraged we are with what we are seeing at this moment.”

While we acknowledge the potential of BKNG as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.