Leading vacation rental platform Airbnb (ABNB 2.77%) has had quite the comeback this year. The company is up 32% since the start of 2023. Despite its impressive rally, however, the stock is still down 31% over the last year.
This growth stock has had anything but an easy go since its initial public offering in 2020. But despite the challenges it's faced and will likely continue facing in the near term, I believe Airbnb is still a screaming buy for long-term investors. Here's why.
What's going on with Airbnb
Airbnb's pricing woes were spurred by the pandemic. Investors became wary of the state of the travel industry during the coronavirus crisis, and in turn, took a pessimistic outlook on the company. That's understandable, as Airbnb directly serves the travel industry with its 6.6 million vacation rental listings across the globe.
However, Airbnb's latest fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report for 2022 put much of that concern to rest. The company reported a record year of growth with its first positive net income for a full year and the highest quarter for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
The stock slipped slightly this past week after a short report was published questioning the company's business model and long-term ability to compete in the marketplace. Some of the concerns are valid, and leave room for Airbnb to make some changes to its policies and rules. However, many of the concerns brought up in the report don't have much standing.
Looking at the bigger picture
A single quarter or year isn't what makes or breaks a company -- it's the company's long-term performance that really indicates if it's a winner or loser. I personally believe Airbnb is well positioned for growth.
Airbnb has already become synonymous with vacation rentals. It currently holds the title of being the world's largest listing platform, making it the No. 1 resource for travelers looking to book a short-term or long-term stay. That's not a position it will give up easily.
Vacation rentals are quickly becoming the go-to accommodation, with occupancy levels and rates exceeding hotels in 2022. Yet it's nowhere near market saturation. Ebbs and flows of vacation rental demand will dictate where new listings are introduced, giving the company long-term drivers for growth within the travel industry.
I definitely see room for improvement in how the company addresses offline bookings, its cleaning, and its hosting policies to reduce "nightmare" guest or host experiences. But I predict its revenue and sales will continue an upward trajectory, particularly in 2023. Travel spending in February 2023 exceeded travel spending for that same month in 2019 and 2022, meaning the first quarter of 2023 should be a strong one for Airbnb.
ABNB PE Ratio data by YCharts
Airbnb's price-to-earnings ratio is around 40 times at the time of this writing, which does indicate the company is richly valued. However, it's a slightly lower valuation than its closest competitor, Expedia, which owns the vacation rental company VRBO. And isn't an unreasonable valuation compared to other profitable tech companies that disrupted their industries.
