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As the earnings season comes close, investors are keeping an eye on the second half of 2021 to make a bet on the winning stocks and Airbnb is one of the rising stars according to analysts.

After the highly infectious Covid-19 variant appeared, lockdowns unexpectedly appeared again, turning the table on several stocks including the airline and tech industry. This is has caused a shift to e-commerce and spiked a change in consummatory behavior. This followed the stress that the Covid-19 has caused on the finances of people across the globe.

These factors highly contributed to the affection of consumers’ financial future, which became unpredictable as stock market analysts described it. However, investors believe that the stock market will soon revive again. Analysts believe that Airbnb will be one of the few stocks that will rise exponentially. 

The near future of Airbnb

Vaccination is rolling out at a fast pace across the globe. Consequently, people would want to spend some time of relief in one of Airbnb’s listed houses. Analysts believe that the strong second-quarter earnings beat is a good indicator. 

Brian Fitzgerald of Wells Fargo, a five-star analyst rated the stock a buy and raised his $200 price target per share to $210. He argued that the long-term nonurban bookings are rising as the economies are opening up throughout the summer with vacation season getting underway. 

Nonetheless, Fitzgerald expects the more flexible travel trends to stick around. He believes as consumers might retain their increasingly hybrid work schedules. However, since the company has several domestic and international property options, that could be a good choice for both travelers and business people. 

Although the Covid-19 pandemic had hit the rental business so hard, things have been going well for Airbnb. Its Nights and Experiences initiative expanded 197% year-over-year, and it saw gross booking value move 320% upward over that same period.

Airbnb has been attracting more hosts. Consequently, that helped its supply and demand curve stay strong. The company’s new strategy of onboarding new hosts had cut the onboarding time by more than 50%.

Fitzgerald remains optimistic for the third quarter, arguing that the guidance provided by ABNB is “conservative.” However, he does caution that the “spread of Covid variants, local travel restrictions, and slowing vaccinations are beginning to adversely impact cancellations.”

On TipRanks, Fitzgerald is ranked #36 out of over 7,000 total analysts. He has a success rate of 70%, averaging a return of 32.9% per rating.