Airbnb revenue narrowly beats on strong growth in international markets

(Reuters) – Vacation home rental company Airbnb narrowly beat estimates for third-quarter revenue on Thursday, helped by strong growth in its Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets.

The travel company, which has been investing heavily to bolster its presence globally, said the average growth rate of nights booked on an origin basis in expansion markets was double that of its core markets in the third quarter.

Nights and experiences booked increased 8% to 122.8 million from a year earlier, led by growth of 19% in Asia-Pacific and 15% in Latin America.

The company posted a third-quarter gross booking value of $20.1 billion and revenue of $3.73 billion, both up 10%, compared with a year earlier. Analysts expected quarterly revenue to come in at $3.72 billion.

In the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue of between $2.39 billion and $2.44 billion, or a rise of 8% to 10% from a year earlier.

Airbnb said it is expecting fourth-quarter nights booked to be higher on a year-over-year basis.

However, the San Francisco-based company said the core profit margin in the quarter was expected to decline due to higher marketing and product development expenses.

It also expects the average daily rate (ADR), or average cost per night, in the current quarter to increase modestly, compared with a year earlier. Global third-quarter rates came in at $164, up 1% from the prior year.

It reported a profit of $2.13 per share for quarter ended Sept. 30. Its year-earlier profit of $6.63 included one-time income tax-related benefits.

The company's implied take rate was flat at 18.6%, as the revenue generated by the additional service fee amount for cross-currency bookings was offset by investments in customer service.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva)