Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) is set to release its second quarter results in the US later today, shortly after a UK council found landlords were evicting tenants in favour of using the short-stay platform.
Ahead of results later today, investment bank Jefferies raised its fair value on Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB)’s shares to US$140. The stock closed yesterday at US$110.76.
The bank’s analysts recommend buying Airbnb stock, pre-empting a “recovery in cross-border" travel in the second quarter, according to a research note published yesterday.
They said “strong demand continues to support top-line growth” at the short-stay and temporary let platform, after traffic to the Airbnb.com website grew 12% in the second quarter.
Although this represents slower growth than the 24% reported in the previous three months, the analysts say it “roughly matches the [consensus] slowdown in nights”.
They said despite a notable slide in summer traffic across online travel, Airbnb has “seen more stability in traffic” lately, with growth over pre-pandemic levels in 2019 moderating at 3% since May.
The results are due just hours after a report by Scarborough council found the number of holiday lets in the town centre grew substantially since 2017 while private rental properties slumped by three-quarters.
The council found the average number of homes available in 2017 to rent was 25, but that dropped to just six in 2022.
“The council is reliant on using the private rented sector in meeting [housing] demand, however, officers are reporting a significant drop off in the availability of private rented sector accommodation in the borough,” the report said.
“We have also seen examples of private landlords evicting tenants in order to convert [properties] into Airbnb (Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB)) and holiday lets.”
Airbnb, which was founded in San Francisco in 2007, now has 4 million host users, according to the company’s website.