The biggest growth drivers are additional services alongside hotel bookings.
The number of transactions in the "Connected Trip" segment increased by 30% year-on-year in the second quarter and now accounts for more than a tenth of the Group's business.
Booking.com defines Connected Trip as all additional services such as flights, rental cars, cabs and attractions. Flight bookings developed particularly strongly with growth of 44% and activities and attractions with growth of over 100%.
This contributed to a 16% increase in revenue and a 32% increase in profit in the second quarter.
Free cash flow climbed by 32 % to USD 3.1 billion per share.
At USD 55.40 per share, earnings were well above expectations of USD 50.60. With sales of USD 6.80 billion, the company also exceeded analysts' estimates of USD 6.52 billion.
Massive share buybacks
Booking has used the current income to buy back its own shares for USD 1.3 billion Aktienwhich corresponds to around 0.77 % of the market capitalization. At first glance, that doesn't sound like much. But if this happens every quarter, the impact over time is considerable.
In the last ten years, the number of outstanding shares has been reduced from 51 million to 33 million, which has significantly increased earnings per share.
This is likely to continue in a similar way. Under the current buyback program, a further USD 24.6 billion is available for share buybacks. This would currently be enough to cancel 4.4 million shares.
In addition, since last year the company has been paying a Dividende.
Would you like a little more?
The consensus estimates for the current financial year are for a jump in earnings of 18% to USD 221 per share.
Booking therefore has a forward P/E of 25.3, which is easily justifiable in view of the high growth rates and the characteristics of the business model. Over the long term, the P/E has hovered around 25.6.
However, as earnings rose by 22% in the first quarter and 32% in the second quarter, it is likely that the estimates are too low. This is also supported by the Management Board's statements that momentum has picked up again since the end of May.
If Booking exceeds expectations again in the next two quarters, this will result in corresponding upside potential.
Booking share: Chart from 30.07.2025, price: USD 5,590 - symbol: BKNG | Source: TWS
The risk/reward ratio would be even better in the event of a correction. Although there is no tangible reason for prices to fall, if the market as a whole comes under pressure, Booking is very likely to come back. Possible starting points for a correction are USD 5,260 - 5,333 and USD 4,650.
At the relevant lows since 2020, the P/E was between 19 and 22, which would currently correspond to a price of USD 4,199 - 4,862.
However, if the share breaks out above USD 5,750, a procyclical uptrend will occur. Kaufsignal with extrapolated price targets of USD 6,000 and USD 6,250.