Airbnb shares fall 14% on earnings miss, fear of slowing U.S. demand

Airbnb shares dropped 14% in after-hours trading after the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and warned that it’s seeing signs of slowing demand from U.S. customers.

Here’s how the company did compared to LSEG estimates for the quarter ended June 30:

• Earnings per share: 86 cents vs. 92 cents expected
• Revenue: $2.75 billion vs. $2.74 billion expected

Revenue increased 11% year over year. Airbnb reported a net income of $555 million, or 86 cents per share, down 15% from $650 million, or 98 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The vacation rental company guided to third-quarter revenue of $3.67 billion to $3.73 billion, but also warned that it expected moderation in year-over-year growth in its key “Nights and Experiences” category, relative to the current quarter. It also cautioned that it was “seeing shorter booking lead times globally and some signs of slowing demand from U.S. guests.”

Airbnb said users booked 125.1 million Nights and Experiences, its highest second-quarter result. “We saw continued growth across all regions compared to Q2 2023, with Asia Pacific and Latin America again leading the way,” it said in its letter to shareholders.

The company also said it had removed more than 200,000 low-quality listings since it launched its “quality system” more than a year ago.

Investors are carefully watching for signs to see if the consumer is under pressure, as the Federal Reserve has held off on rate cuts until next month at the earliest. There have been some troubling signs in other companies’ results. McDonalds, for example, warned that consumers were feeling “the pinch” from the economy in its most recent earnings report, which saw same-store sales fall 1%.