Booking Holdings Inc.

An online site for booking travel and they have hundreds of thousands of relationships with hotels globally. Last quarter they grew international bookings at 29% year-over-year. It is still growing extremely robustly. Currently trading at about 18X this year’s earnings. He is expecting $65 of earnings per share this year.

(A Top Pick April 30/14. Up 8.9%.) Last quarter was gangbusters. Came out with very, very strong numbers. Expects gross bookings and earnings to rise, somewhere in the high 20% area. Trading at below 20X earnings, so not expensive.

There is a clear trading channel, going down. This is looking negative. We had a strong run and then it stepped back.

Expecting $65 a share in earnings next year. Reporting tomorrow morning at 7 AM, and he expects good things. They are growing their gross bookings in the high 20% range.

Booking.com is one of their divisions. 600,000 booking per night around the world. Growing at 26% and trading at 23 times earnings. A virally expanding company.

The 1 year chart shows a nice consolidation. He suspects that this may just be taking a pause. The support of around $1200 is most definitely being held. Looks like a healthy consolidation within an uptrend. He would probably buy it on any significant pullback to the trendline.

Getting to a level where he is starting to feel a little less comfortable. It’s up around 20X earnings, which is stretching the valuation. Also, one of the areas that he would be concerned about would be the emergence of these virtual “rental by owner” properties, were people, looking for vacation, are looking for more of an established place to visit and stay in. Thinks there will be some competition on the vacationers’ side.

(A Top Pick April 11/13. Up 55.85%.) You have to distinguish between price and value. First bought the stock in 2005 at $19 and sold it in 2010 for $243 and then re-entered a year or 2 ago at $680-$690. When he first bought the stock in 2005, it was trading at about 27X earnings and today it is trading at about 18X expected next year’s earnings. Metrics are just outstanding with last quarter’s gross bookings up 39% and earnings were up 31%. They have 420,000 hotels worldwide signed on to their website.

Fantastic company. Bookings are up 39% year over year. 271 million rooms booked last year. A pure growth story. They are a cheaper stock today than when he bought it way back, on an earnings basis. High priced stocks don’t necessarily mean expensive stocks.

Has great growth at 25%-30%. It is in the retail space but enabled by technology. A wonderful company.

(A Top Pick April 11/13.) Reduced his holdings on Nov 27/13 at $1190. This was risk management to maintain a portfolio balance.

This was a Top Pick on April 11/13. Bought this in the high $600s and sold a piece of it at $1190. Nothing to do with the company. This has to do with risk management that he uses to make sure one position doesn’t dominate the portfolio. Still loves the company.

This is one of those fast money plays that hedge funds and traders like. He thinks you have to wait for some sort of meaningful correction before getting interested.

Thinks it is good value. It is expensive. Got back in about 6 months ago. He saw better valuation than when he owned it at $19. Continues to hold it. It is good value here. Expanding margins and a great company. The business model is incredibly scalable.

Expects earnings to grow in excess of 20% for foreseeable future. Trading at 23X historical earnings and 18X 2013 estimates, which he thinks will be $38. Fantastic growth story.