Airbnb earnings: Stock pops after key guidance beat

Airbnb (ABNB) reported its Q4 earnings after the bell on Feb. 14.

The company slightly beat on revenue and substantially on guidance, and the company’s shares popped by 9% in after-hours trading.

Here are key numbers from Airbnb’s report today, as compared to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Q4 revenue: $1.9 billion actual versus $1.86 billion expected

Q4 adjusted Ebitda: $506 million actual versus $435.3 million expected

Q4 nights and experiences booked: 88.2 million actual versus 90.1 million expected

Q1 2023 revenue guidance: $1.75 billion to $1.82 billion actual versus $1.68 billion expected

In a letter to shareholders, the company wrote: “2022 was another record year for Airbnb. Revenue of $8.4 billion grew 40% year over year (46% ex-FX). Net income was $1.9 billion—making 2022 our first profitable full year on a GAAP basis. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.9 billion while Free Cash Flow was $3.4 billion, growing 49% year over year. Guest demand remained strong throughout 2022. All regions saw material growth in 2022 as guests increasingly crossed borders and returned to cities on Airbnb.”

Travel rebound

Ultimately, Airbnb is in a supply-and-demand balancing act. The company needs to attract hosts to the platform, while also attracting a substantial – but commensurate – demand from consumers. Airbnb has been taking steps to bolster its supply of hosts. The company is optimistic about this heading into Q1, as a travel rebound provides a boost.

“Supply growth was also strong in 2022,” the company’s shareholder letter reads. “We ended the year with 6.6 million global active listings, which is over 900,000 more listings than we had in the beginning of the year, excluding China. This growth was driven by our global network, where demand drives supply, as well as product innovations that continue to attract new Hosts.”

In August, Airbnb announced its first-ever buyback, worth $2 billion. In the company’s letter to shareholders, it affirmed that this program is well-underway, having “repurchased $1.5B of our authorized $2B share buyback program.”

Story continues

Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.

For the latest earnings reports and analysis, earnings whispers and expectations, and company earnings news, click here

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube