Airbnb Exceeds Revenue Expectations

Airbnb, the popular travel hosting site, reported higher than expected revenue for the fourth quarter and provided an optimistic forecast for the current quarter. Although their shares initially rose in after-hours trading, they later fell.

In Q4, Airbnb reported a loss of 55 cents per share and revenue of $2.22 billion, surpassing analysts' projected revenue of $2.16 billion. However, it is unclear whether the loss per share met analysts' expectations for earnings of 65 cents per share.

While shares initially rose by 9% in after-hours trading, they eventually turned negative and were down by 3.8% in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Nights of accommodation and experiences booked increased by 12% to 98.8 million in the fourth quarter, meeting expectations. Airbnb had previously anticipated a slowdown in bookings growth compared to the 14% gain in the third quarter.

Looking ahead, Airbnb expects the growth rate of nights booked in the first quarter to moderate relative to the previous quarter. The company acknowledges that it is currently at an inflection point and plans to expand into foreign markets, including Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In a shareholder letter, Airbnb states, "Now is the time for us to expand beyond our core business and reinvent Airbnb." They emphasize that this expansion will be a gradual, multi-year endeavor and promise further details in the future.

For the first quarter, Airbnb projects a revenue increase of 12% to 14%, amounting to $2.03 billion to $2.07 billion compared to the same period last year. The growth will benefit from the timing of Easter, which falls on March 31.