Is Booking Stock Worth More Than Its Competitors?
Among six travel and hotel companies, Booking (BKNG) keeps the most operating profit from each sales dollar and grows the second fastest. Its shares are the cheapest on an earnings basis among peers without a loss quarter in their earnings. A $10,000 holding bought a year ago is worth about $7,460 now. Is Booking stock worth more than these rivals, given what it delivers?
Booking Outgrows Marriott Yet Trades At A Lower P/E
Booking beats Marriott International on both revenue growth and operating margin over the past twelve months. Booking’s revenue grew 12.9%, against 4.7% at Marriott. Booking’s operating margin, the share of revenue left after running costs, was 34.5%, against 15.7% at Marriott.
The price runs the other way. The P/E, the share price divided by a year of profit per share, is 17.5 for Booking and 36.0 for Marriott. Expedia’s P/E is lower, but its earnings, like Tripadvisor’s, include at least one loss quarter, so neither compares. Among the four companies with comparable earnings, Booking is the cheapest.
| BKNG | EXPE | ABNB | MAR | HLT | TRIP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Cap ($ Bil) | 126.3 | 31.9 | 93.2 | 93.2 | 71.3 | 1.0 |
| PE Ratio | 17.5 | 15.7 | 34.6 | 36.0 | 45.0 | 196.5 |
| LTM Revenue Growth | 12.9% | 12.0% | 13.6% | 4.7% | 8.7% | -1.6% |
| LTM Operating Margin | 34.5% | 17.4% | 20.8% | 15.7% | 23.3% | 5.0% |
| 12M Stock Return | -25.4% | 19.4% | 27.3% | 34.3% | 20.2% | -50.9% |
Slow growth doesn’t explain a low P/E in this group, because Marriott grows more slowly yet still costs more. Booking’s own growth, though, has slowed sharply. Its revenue grew 8.1% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 16.2% a quarter earlier. Excluding currency effects, growth slowed from about 10% to about 7%. The price appears to assume that slowdown lasts.
Booking sells room nights, flight tickets and attraction tickets online, through Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda. Domestic room nights, meaning travel within the same country, grew at a high single-digit rate in the second quarter. International room nights rose only slightly. Management said long-haul trips were held back by high airline prices and reduced capacity due to the Middle East conflict.
Revenue growth also trailed gross bookings growth in that quarter. Management put that down mainly to elevated cancellations in March that affected second-quarter revenue. Booking’s operating margin has still widened over the past two years. Management also said customer service costs per booking keep falling at a double-digit rate. Booking’s third-quarter report is the next chance to see whether its revenue slowdown has stopped.
What Does Booking Expect For The Third Quarter?
Booking expects third-quarter revenue to grow 4% to 6% from a year earlier. That range is below the second quarter’s pace, so management expects growth to slow again. Revenue growth above the top of that range would suggest the slowdown is easing. Growth below the bottom would suggest it is deepening.
Booking is also shrinking its share count through buybacks. It repurchased $7.4 billion of its own stock in the first half of 2026. The buybacks, though, cannot fix a slowdown in the travel business itself.
What Risks Does A Booking Holder Face?
A longer Middle East conflict could deepen Booking’s slowdown. Management’s guidance assumes high flight prices and softer long-haul demand persist through the third quarter. Management has already lowered its full-year bookings forecast, mainly because flight ticket sales are growing more slowly. Booking’s outlook for accommodations is largely unchanged. For a holder, the conflict risk comes on top of a fall that has left the shares about 27% below their 52-week high.
Costs are a second risk. Marketing is one cost now growing faster than the business. Marketing expense rose 11% in the second quarter, a little faster than gross bookings. Management tied the rise to changes in its traffic mix.
Booking stock costs less than Marriott’s per dollar of profit while it grows faster and keeps more of each sale. The price appears to assume that Booking’s growth keeps slowing. So far the evidence leans that way: revenue growth slowed sharply in the second quarter, and management’s own range points lower still. Third-quarter revenue growth above the second quarter’s 8.1% would count against that assumption. A result at or below that pace, including anywhere in management’s 4% to 6% range, would support the discount instead.
How To Act On BKNG?
