Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BKNG) stock fell 0.50% (As on May 5, 11:24:10 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported a better-than-expected profit for the first quarter, as the online travel agency benefited from pent-up demand that drove consumers to book flights and hotels despite worries of an imminent recession. Net income was $266 million, compared with a net loss of $700 million in the prior-year quarter. Gross travel bookings, were $39.4 billion, an increase of 44% from the prior-year quarter (approximately a 52% increase on a constant-currency basis). Room nights booked increased 38% from the prior-year quarter. For the first quarter, Asia was up 100%, and Europe and Rest of World were both up more than 30%. The company continued to see growth in the U.S., which was up high single digits versus the prior year. The mobile apps represented over 45% of our total room nights in the first quarter, similar to the fourth quarter of 2022. The international mix of the total room nights in Q1 was about 53%, which was the highest quarterly mix since 2019, but still a couple percentage points below Q1 2019. For the alternative accommodations at Booking.com, the Q1 room night growth rate was about 45% year-over-year and the global mix of alternative accommodation room nights was about 33%, which was higher than about 31% in Q1 2022

BKNG in the first quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $11.60, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $10.61, as per Refinitiv data. The company had reported 40 percent increase in the adjusted revenue to $3.78 billion in the first quarter of FY 23, missing the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $3.77 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $586 million in the first quarter, which was up 89% year-over-year, and would have been up 111% on a constant currency basis. Adjusted EBITDA was lower than the expectations, impacted by marketing expenses incurred for the higher than expected gross bookings for stays in future quarters. February and March gross bookings came in stronger than the company had expected at the time of the prior guidance. These extra bookings also negatively impacted the take rate more than the company expected for the quarter. Q1 ending cash and investments balance of $15.3 billion was up slightly versus the Q4 ending balance of $15.2 billion. The operating cash flow in the quarter was $2.9 billion, up 70% year-over-year, and the free cash flow was $2.8 billion, up 77% year-over-year.