Airbnb (ABNB) was cut to Hold from Buy at Needham & Company and started with a Buy rating at Benchmark on Thursday.
Needham removed its price target for the stock, stating there is a more challenging road for Airbnb to expand beyond its core.
Analysts believe the market has an "overly optimistic" view on ABNB's potential to leverage artificial to disrupt the global OTA industry. The firm also sees potential challenges in generating the global scale necessary to impact estimates, "specifically the potential for price competition with incumbents and need to unlock hotels that likely see ABNB as an existential threat."
"With the stock trading at a premium to peers relative to growth we are moving to the sidelines," stated Needham.
Benchmark assigned Airbnb a $190 price target, telling investors that even as competition has increased in conjunction with a growing awareness and adoption of alternative accommodations within the broader travel market, research shows that Airbnb has retained their number one position with consumers, hosts, and unaffiliated travel experts.
"We acknowledge that a lot of the low-hanging share price fruit has been picked at current levels but still view Airbnb as a sound momentum play, with potentially material upside to fundamentals over the next 12-36 months," wrote Benchmark.