Online accommodations platform Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 12% year on year to $2.78 billion. Guidance for next quarter’s revenue was optimistic at $2.61 billion at the midpoint, 3% above analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $0.56 per share was 15.6% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy Airbnb? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
Airbnb (ABNB) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $2.78 billion vs analyst estimates of $2.72 billion (12% year-on-year growth, 2.3% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.56 vs analyst expectations of $0.66 (15.6% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $786 million vs analyst estimates of $765.4 million (28.3% margin, 2.7% beat)
- Revenue Guidance for Q1 CY2026 is $2.61 billion at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $2.54 billion
- Adjusted EBITDA Margin Guidance for Q1 CY2026 is in line with the same period last year, in line with analyst estimates
- Operating Margin: 9.7%, down from 17.3% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 18.8%, down from 32.9% in the previous quarter
- Nights and Experiences Booked: 121.9 million, up 10.9 million year on year
- Market Capitalization: $72.49 billion
Company Overview
Founded by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia in their San Francisco apartment, Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) is the world’s largest online marketplace for lodging, primarily homestays.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last three years, Airbnb grew its sales at a decent 13.4% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth was slightly above the average consumer internet company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.
This quarter, Airbnb reported year-on-year revenue growth of 12%, and its $2.78 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 2.3%. Company management is currently guiding for a 14.9% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.
Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 9.5% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last three years. This projection is underwhelming and suggests its products and services will see some demand headwinds. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.
The 1999 book Gorilla Game predicted Microsoft and Apple would dominate tech before it happened. Its thesis? Identify the platform winners early. Today, enterprise software companies embedding generative AI are becoming the new gorillas. a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
Nights And Experiences Booked
Booking Growth
As an online travel company, Airbnb generates revenue growth by increasing both the number of stays (or experiences) booked and the commission charged on those bookings.
Over the last two years, Airbnb’s nights and experiences booked, a key performance metric for the company, increased by 9.1% annually to 121.9 million in the latest quarter. This growth rate is solid for a consumer internet business and indicates people are excited about its offerings. 
In Q4, Airbnb added 10.9 million nights and experiences booked, leading to 9.8% year-on-year growth. The quarterly print isn’t too different from its two-year result, suggesting its new initiatives aren’t accelerating booking growth just yet.
Revenue Per Booking
Average revenue per booking (ARPB) is a critical metric to track because it not only measures how much users book on its platform but also the commission that Airbnb can charge.
Airbnb’s ARPB growth has been subpar over the last two years, averaging 2%. This isn’t great, but the increase in nights and experiences booked is more relevant for assessing long-term business potential. We’ll monitor the situation closely; if Airbnb tries boosting ARPB by taking a more aggressive approach to monetization, it’s unclear whether bookings can continue growing at the current pace. 
This quarter, Airbnb’s ARPB clocked in at $22.79. It grew by 2% year on year, slower than its booking growth.
Key Takeaways from Airbnb’s Q4 Results
It was encouraging to see Airbnb’s revenue guidance for next quarter beat analysts’ expectations. We were also happy its Nights & Experiences book, revenue, and EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates in the quarter. Overall, we think this was a decent good with some key metrics above expectations. The stock traded up 2.2% to $118.54 immediately after reporting.
Airbnb may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
