Airbnb (ABNB) beat on most metrics for the fourth quarter, including nights booked and gross bookings, but missed Wall Street’s profit expectations as a $90M tax expense resulted in a profit of $0.56 per share, down from $0.73 a year ago and 9 cents below expectations.
However, a more important measure of profitability for the company showed improvement from a year ago and beat expectations. Adjusted EBITDA increased 3% to $786M, topping estimates by $21M.
For the reported quarter, Airbnb (ABNB) experienced a 16% increase in gross bookings to a better-than-expected $20.4B, a 10% gain in nights and seats booked, and a 6% gain in gross booking value per night and seats booked.
This contributed to total revenue of $2.78B, a 12% increase from a year ago and $70 million better than estimates.
For the current quarter, the company expects to generate $2.59B to $2.63B in revenue, representing growth of 14% to 16% and above $2.53B estimates. Gross bookings are seen increasing in the low teens, driven by high-single-digit growth in nights and seats booked.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be flat from 2025.
For FY26, revenue growth is expected to be in the low double-digits, and “stable” adjusted EBITDA due to investments in marketing, product, and technology.
“These results reflect the strength of our core business and the durability of our long-term strategy.We’re driving growth by staying focused on four key areas: making the Airbnb service better, bringing Airbnb to more parts of the world, expanding what we offer, and integrating AI into our app,” the company said on its website.
Shares are up ~5% in Thursday’s after-hours trading.