Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is slated to report third-quarter 2019 earnings on Nov 7, after the closing bell.
Notably, its surprise history has been decent. The company surpassed estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, with average positive surprise of 4.28%. The online travel company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 3.46% in the last reported quarter.
Strong Agency Revenues to Drive International Results
Booking Holdings has been generating bulk of revenues from international markets, wherein the agency model is more popular. This is likely to have continued in the third quarter.
Agency revenues are expected to have increased in the to-be-reported quarter, driven by strength across all its platforms.
Booking Holdings Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Agoda and Rental Cars to Boost Merchant Revenues
Merchant revenues are expected to have increased in the to-be-reported quarter, driven by strength across agoda.com and rentalcars.com. While agoda.com is expected to have benefited from discounting in the markets served by the company, rentalcars.com is likely to have improved from continuous operational improvements.
Strong Room Night to Aid Growth
Room night growth is expected to have improved in the quarter to be reported, driven by diverse inventory and brand recognition that tend to balance out the macro uncertainties related to any market, along with growing competition from local and international players.
Strong performance of its direct channel is expected to have driven total room nights booked in the to-be-reported quarter.
For the soon-to-be-reported quarter, Booking Holdings expects room nights booked to grow 6-8% from a year ago. Further, total gross bookings are anticipated to grow 3-5% year over year on a constant-currency basis.
What Our Model Says
Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Booking Holdings this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is not the case here as you will see below.
Earnings ESP: The company has an Earnings ESP of -0.55%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Zacks Rank: Currently, Booking Holdings has a Zacks Rank #3.
Stocks That Warrant a Look
Here are a few stocks worth considering, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to deliver an earnings beat in the upcoming releases.
Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (NYSE:MTD) has an Earnings ESP of +0.35% and a Zacks Rank of #3.
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has an Earnings ESP of +5.62% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) has an Earnings ESP of +0.21% and a Zacks Rank #3.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
CSX Corporation (CSX): Free Stock Analysis Report
Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (MTD): Free Stock Analysis Report
Target Corporation (TGT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG): Free Stock Analysis Report
Original post