Airbnb reported earnings after the bell Thursday, a release that will gave insight into how the coronavirus delta variant spread has impacted travel demand.
The company exceeded revenue and bookings estimates and guided for a strong third quarter even in the face of the pandemic.
The stock rallied into the report. The shares were up nearly 2% in Thursday’s session.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said the fundamental setup for travel stocks makes him “nervous,” but admits the technical picture for Airbnb appears strong.
“It’s been going down for six months, but it made a nice little double bottom here at the $132 level in May and July, and since then it’s bounced back and it’s broken above its trend line going back to March,” Maley told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Thursday before the release.
Now the stock needs to clear $153 for its reversal to be more concrete, Maley said.
“To follow the upward break of the trend line with a nice higher high, that’s going to be very bullish,” he said. “We just need one more little jump here and that’ll confirm that the trend has changed from a downward six-month trend trajectory to an upside one.”
Airbnb shares fell 3% to $145 a share in extended trading.
John Petrides, portfolio manager at Tocqueville Asset Management, said Airbnb will likely report a strong quarter – but, that’s not enough for him to jump into the stock just yet.
“Much like its peers I think you have to wait and see,” he said during the same interview. “Longer term Airbnb is a solid company.”
But, after trading sharply higher from its $68 IPO price in December, Petrides is looking for any weakness down the road.
“There could be better entry points to get in this stock, and really in this entire space over the next six to eight months or so,” he said. “There is actually better value in the space compared to Airbnb in some of the other competitive names that aren’t trading at such high valuations.”
