BKNG Q1 2019 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Booking Holdings Inc. Q1 2019 Earnings Call
• Date: May 9, 2019 at 8:30 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Glenn Fogel (Chief Executive Officer)
  • David Goulden (Chief Financial Officer)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Booked room nights were 217 million in Q1 and were up 10% year over year.
• Q1 consolidated non-GAAP revenue was $2.9B, down 0.4% in USD and up about 6% on a constant currency basis.
• Q1 gross bookings grew 2% in U.S. dollars and grew 8% on a constant currency basis.
• Average daily rates were down about 2% in Q1 on a constant currency basis versus guidance of down about 1%.
• Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 was $718M, down 10% year over year on a reported basis and up about 6% when adjusted for FX and Easter.
• Non-GAAP EPS was $11.17, down 7% versus the prior year, and adjusted for currency and Easter was up about 11%.
• GAAP net income was $756M and GAAP EPS was $16.85, which includes $451M of pre-tax unrealized gains on equity investments excluded from non-GAAP results.
• Operating cash flow and free cash flow were negatively impacted in Q1 by a $403M payment to French tax authorities and $48M of Netherlands tax prepayments.

Guidance

• Company expects full-year non-GAAP EPS on a constant currency basis to grow in the low double digits for 2019.
• Using current FX assumptions, gross bookings, revenue, and non-GAAP EPS growth rates are reduced by approximately 3 percentage points for the full year versus prior guidance.
• Q2 2019 guidance forecasts booked room nights to grow 6% to 8% year over year.
• Q2 gross bookings are forecast to be approximately flat in U.S. dollars and to grow 4% to 6% on a constant currency basis.
• Q2 revenue is forecast to be up 5% to 7% in U.S. dollars and grow 10% to 12% on a constant currency basis, with normalization for Easter and FX giving about 8% to 10% growth.
• Q2 adjusted EBITDA is expected between $1.295B and $1.325B, representing approximately flat year-over-year growth on reported basis.
• Q2 non-GAAP EPS is forecast at $22.15 to $22.60 with normalized growth of approximately 7% to 9%, assuming a Q2 fully diluted share count of ~43.6M shares and a non-GAAP tax rate of ~19%.