Booking earnings: third quarter 2026

Booking, the company behind Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, had a solid third quarter of 2026. The value of travel booked rose 10% and its adjusted revenue rose 9%. Its adjusted earnings per share rose 17%, helped by buying back its own shares. It expects a much slower fourth quarter, after travel demand softened late in the summer and again in October. It kept its forecasts for the year as a whole. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Booking's adjusted earnings per share of $4.66 came in about 4% above the $4.48 analysts expected on average, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. The reported figure of $3.61, which includes the $1 billion FTC charge, sat below that forecast, so the comparison depends on whether that one-off is counted. ¹²

The strong points

• Travellers booked $54.5 billion of trips through Booking in the quarter, 10% more than a year earlier. ¹
• On the company's adjusted measure, revenue rose 9% to about $9.8 billion. ¹
• The company's adjusted earnings per share rose 17% to $4.66. ¹

The weak points

• Booking says travel demand softened toward the end of the quarter as international trips weakened, and October brought more disruption. ¹
• Free cash flow, the cash left after running and investing in the business, fell 22% to about $1.1 billion. ¹
• Over nine months Booking spent $9.9 billion buying back its own shares, more than the cash the business produced. ¹

What the company expects

• For the fourth quarter Booking expects the value of travel booked to grow only 2% to 4%, against 10% in the third. ¹
• For the full year it kept its forecast of earnings per share growth in the low to mid teens, on its adjusted measure. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A strong report. Profit came in above what analysts expected, the business grew and the forecasts for the year were kept, though the company expects a clearly slower end to the year.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Booking's results release, 3 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 3 November 2026. ↩