What happened
Sabre (SABR -11.34%), an important technology solutions provider to the travel industry, wasn't exactly a top destination for investors on Thursday. The company's shares lost almost 10% of their value, following the publication of its latest metrics. Matters weren't helped by an analyst's new, more bearish take on the stock.
So what
In a regulatory filing, Sabre published key metrics for August, indicating that it -- and to some degree, the wider travel sector -- still has some distance to go before reaching pre-pandemic levels.
The company reported that its gross air bookings for the month rose to around 55% of their level in August 2019 (the coronavirus started to spread worldwide several months later). Net air bookings did slightly better, reaching about 56% of the figure for that month, while number of passengers boarded rose to approximately 86%. More optimistically, gross hotel central reservations was actually higher by roughly 12%.
Sabre attempted to put a positive spin on this, writing that "notwithstanding the operational challenges faced by the airline industry during the summer, both our net air bookings and passengers boarded reached their highest levels for us in the last week of August since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic's severe impact on the travel industry in mid-March 2020."
Now what
It's very possible that this argument did not land with Mizuho Securities analyst Matthew Broome, who on Thursday cut his price target to $7 per share from the previous $8. Broome maintained his neutral recommendation on the stock while doing so.
Overall, the 2022 tourism season was one of recovery for many businesses in the tourism industry. Some, however, are still en route to a full comeback -- it seems Sabre is one of these companies.
