Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) had itself a Thursday. The company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and handed investors an upbeat revenue forecast, and the stock responded Friday morning by surging to a fresh 52-week high.
Executives also spent a good chunk of the earnings call talking up artificial intelligence, which is doing double duty at Airbnb: helping the company launch products faster and lowering customer support costs. CEO Brian Chesky said Airbnb is using AI to improve operations while expanding its hotel business, pricing tools and flexible payment options.
The Numbers Were Good. Really Good.
Airbnb reported third-quarter earnings of $3.16 per share, beating Wall Street's estimate of $2.84. Revenue rose to $4.87 billion, topping the $4.75 billion estimate.
Gross Booking Value increased 21% year over year to $27.7 billion. Nights and Seats Booked climbed 16% to 155 million.
Then there's the outlook. The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion, above the $3.16 billion analyst estimate. And if that wasn't enough, Airbnb authorized an additional $12 billion in share repurchases.
AI Is Shipping Products And Answering Phones
Chesky said AI is helping Airbnb roll out new features faster.
"In Q3 alone, we shipped more than 50 products and features, nearly 70% more than a year ago, because of AI," he said.
Meanwhile, AI is reducing the need for human customer support. About 40% of support issues were resolved without a human agent during the quarter, up from roughly one-third in the second quarter. The company's AI assistant now supports more than 50 languages.
Chesky said customer support costs per booking fell more than 17% year over year, largely due to AI improvements.
Separately, Airbnb disclosed a $7.1 million intellectual property transaction with an AI lab founded and controlled by Chesky.
Hotels Are The Next Act
Chesky said Airbnb's hotel business is expanding significantly faster than its core operations. He described hotels as a $900 billion market and said about 35% of first-time hotel guests book a home within a year.
Management also sees dynamic pricing as a way to lower guest prices while improving host earnings.
But flexible payment options carry some risks. Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz said cancellation rates increased 200 to 300 basis points from a year earlier. She also expects the incremental benefit to nights booked from Reserve Now, Pay Later to moderate after peaking in the third quarter.
ABNB Price Action: Airbnb shares were up 14.32% at $194.50 during premarket trading on Friday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to market data.
