SPAIN – 04/15/2021: In this photo illustration, the Airbnb app is displayed on a smartphone screen and the Airbnb website is displayed on a laptop in the background. (Photo illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sopa Pictures | Light Rocket | Getty Images
shares Airbnb Shares fell 10% on Wednesday, a day after the company released its first-quarter report, which provided slightly weaker guidance than expected and gave a cautious outlook for the current quarter.
CEO Brian Chesky said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Wednesday that Airbnb is cautious about its second quarter because it is facing affordability pressures in North America.
“With inflation, people are more focused than ever on affordability,” he said. “We’re really focused on trying to make sure prices get adjusted in North America.”
Chesky expressed similar concerns about price sensitivity in North America during a quarterly call with investors on Tuesday, adding that in the U.S., the lowest-priced products on the platform have the highest occupancy rates. As Airbnb rates normalize, the company expects occupancy rates to rise for more listings, he said.
In the first quarter, Airbnb topped analysts’ estimates for top and bottom line, profit and total revenue up 20% Year by year. The company swung to a net profit of $117 million, or 18 cents a share, from a net loss of $19 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier. The figure marks the first time Airbnb has been profitable on a GAAP basis in its first quarter.
But the home-sharing platform warned that second-quarter comparisons will be difficult, saying: “As we overlap pent-up demand in 2022 following the COVID Omicron variant, booking days and experiences in the second quarter of 2023 No year-on-year comparisons will be possible.”
Airbnb expects second-quarter revenue between $2.35 billion and $2.45 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected $2.42 billion.
Analysts at Bernstein said the company posted a “sufficiently solid” quarter despite expectations for a challenging quarter. They maintained their outperform rating on the stock and said in a note Wednesday that they see the headwind for the company as a “short-term effect.”
The Baird analyst also said Airbnb’s results were “generally solid,” but were overshadowed by concerns about what might happen in the second quarter.
“While we remain cautious in the near term based on macro and discretionary spending risks, the long-term outlook remains bright given the strength of the brand, platform and management team,” analysts wrote in a note Wednesday.
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report