Booking Holdings Trades at 15.3 Times Forward Earnings as AI Fears Linger

According to CNBC, Booking Holdings trades at 15.3 times forward earnings, below its 10-year average of 22.3 times, even as the company continues to meet long-term growth targets. The company said traffic from large language models remains below 1% of room nights, while direct bookings through its own channels keep rising. Booking also reported that its third-quarter results included a $457 million goodwill impairment at Kayak, citing higher customer acquisition costs as AI answers absorb search traffic. The company said it beat the high end of guidance on every key metric despite the Middle East conflict, and in Q2 room nights rose 5%, gross bookings increased 9%, revenue climbed 8% and adjusted EBITDA grew 9% to $2.6 billion.