Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) adjusted EPS jumps 17% but FTC hit cuts revenue

Posted by Casey Walker on Nov 4th, 2026

What happened

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) lifted third-quarter adjusted EPS 17% to $4.66 and booked a $900 million revenue reduction tied to an FTC matter.

The company reported the results on Nov. 3. The reduction relates to a Federal Trade Commission matter. Gross bookings, the dollar value of travel booked net of cancellations, rose 10% to $54.5 billion from a year earlier, or about 11% in constant currency. Room nights grew 7% to 345 million.

Reported figures were weaker than adjusted ones. Revenue fell 1% to $8.9 billion and net income slipped 1% to $2.7 billion. GAAP EPS rose 7% to $3.61. Adjusted net income grew 8% to $3.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA grew 9% to $4.6 billion.

Key numbers

Metric	Latest	Change	Source
Gross bookings	$54.5 billion	from $49.7 billion, +10%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Revenue (GAAP)	$8.9 billion	from $9.01 billion, -1%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Adjusted revenue	$9.8 billion	from $9.01 billion, +9%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Adjusted EPS	$4.66	from $3.98, +17%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
GAAP EPS	$3.61	from $3.38, +7%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Adjusted EBITDA	$4.6 billion	from $4.23 billion, +9%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1

Read more: Booking (BKNG) company research

How the FTC items shape the numbers

Adjusted revenue was $9.8 billion, up 9% and about 10% in constant currency. Subtract reported revenue from adjusted revenue and you get exactly the FTC reduction, as the company's reconciliation shows. Gross bookings do not reflect the FTC matter.

The company also accrued a $100 million loss on the matter. Its reconciliation adds back $1.0 billion to net income for the matter in total. The loss and the revenue reduction are both excluded from adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA.

Other one-time items sit in the nine-month figures. The company got an $89 million benefit in the first quarter from settling litigation in which it was a plaintiff, and the reconciliation removes that gain. Discrete tax items include a $56 million tax expense tied to a one-time deemed repatriation income tax liability under the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

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Margins, cash and buybacks

Adjusted margins held steady. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 47.0%, unchanged from the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted net income margin was 35.8% against 36.0%. Marketing expense was 4.8% of gross bookings against 4.7%. The direct channel carried a mid-fifties percentage of room nights over the trailing four quarters, similar to last year.

Reported operating income edged down to $3.42 billion from $3.48 billion, and total operating expenses decreased 1%. The year-earlier quarter included a $457 million impairment of KAYAK's goodwill and certain intangible assets.

Cash generation lagged in the quarter. Net cash from operating activities fell 21% and free cash flow fell 22%, both to $1.1 billion. Each is up 2% for the first nine months, with free cash flow at $7.82 billion.

The company repurchased $2.1 billion of stock in the quarter, excluding excise taxes, and has $12.4 billion of authorization remaining as of Sept. 30. Cash payments for repurchases over nine months were $9.9 billion, against $4.32 billion a year earlier.

Why it matters

OptimistFi has argued that Booking Holdings needs its margins and topline growth to persist for the stock to work. The quarter supports the margin half. Adjusted EBITDA margin was flat from a year earlier while gross bookings grew in double digits.

Per-share growth outran profit growth. GAAP EPS rose 7% while net income fell 1%. Weighted-average diluted shares were 753 million against 814 million a year earlier. By OptimistFi's calculation that is a 7.5% drop in the share count, which lines up with the gap between the two growth rates.

The outlook is the caution. The company says global travel demand moderated toward the end of the third quarter on softer international travel, while domestic travel stayed resilient. October brought disruptions to travel to and from the Middle East, elevated airfares and localized unrest in certain European cities. Guidance assumes the Middle East effects persist through year-end.

Fourth-quarter guidance reflects that. Room nights are guided up 1% to 3%, gross bookings up 2% to 4% (4% to 6% in constant currency), adjusted revenue up 0% to 2% and adjusted EBITDA about flat. Currency is expected to cut fourth-quarter adjusted revenue growth by about 2%. Full-year growth in gross bookings, adjusted revenue and adjusted EBITDA is guided to high single digits.

What's next

The fourth-quarter dividend of $0.42 per share is payable on Dec. 31 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 11.

The next test is the company's report on fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 results. Growth below the guided ranges would weaken the topline half of the case. Results at or above them would show demand holding up against the disruptions the company has assumed.