Bernstein ‘rebutting’ short seller’s report on Airbnb

Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke keeps an Outperform rating and $140 price target on Airbnb (ABNB) as it is "rebutting" a short report from Bear Cave that sent the stock down as much as 6% this morning. The report "comes at slightly odd timing," as one of the world’s biggest short term rental management company, Vacasa (VCSA), has "just reported a loss of properties who don’t value the services," according to Bernstein. The "very AirDNA report the Bear Cave cherrypick a quote from" also shows that the percentage of listings run by property managers is still below its 2021 peak, and not materially higher than the 2019 level, added the firm. The report "has more similarity with our sell thesis on [Booking Holdings] BKNG about the risk of direct bookings," the firm concludes by saying.