Booking Holdings price target raised to $3,636 from $3,450 at Bernstein

Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke raised the firm’s price target on Booking Holdings to $3,636 from $3,450 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares. With Q4 reports for the online travel agencies for all names in line or ahead of consensus, the “recurring speed bump across all names” was Q1 guidance – largely a result of difficult compares and calendar effects, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the companies are “entering an undoubted paradigm of more normalized growth,” with overall leisure expected to grow mid-single-growth from here. Bernstein notes that for both Booking and Expedia to meet expectations and guidance they would both need to grow ahead of the industry.