Booking Holdings Inc. on Wednesday reported second-quarter financial results that beat analysts’ expectations for net income, room nights booked and gross bookings, though its revenue was shy of estimates. Booking
BKNG,
+0.52%
shares climbed higher by about 5% after hours immediately after the results were released, then fell to a 3% decline after executives shared on the conference call that they saw some weakening of growth early in the current quarter.
“We reached another milestone in our company’s recovery from the impact of the pandemic, with room nights for the second quarter surpassing 2019 levels for the first time,” Chief Executive Glenn Fogel said in a statement. On the earnings call with analysts, though, Fogel said the company saw a slowdown in the pace of growth in room nights and gross bookings in July compared with June. “We know that the recovery is not fully done yet,” Fogel said on the call. He mentioned that in some parts of the world, such as Asia, coronavirus pandemic-related travel restrictions remain. “And we know we hear about people saying how hard it’s been in some airports,” he added. The travel-booking company, whose brands include Priceline, Kayak and Booking.com, said gross travel bookings for the second quarter were $34.5 billion, …