Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney views Booking Holdings as one of the best-positioned stocks to weather a slowdown in travel demand heading into 2023. Despite tumbling 14% this year, Booking offers value to its shareholders and a “battle-tested management” team, Mahaney told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday. The company’s careful approach to its cost structure and continued position as the largest player in the lodging space worldwide, sum up additional reasons like the stock. “They could arguably grow faster, post-Covid, post normalization, than they were back in 2019,” he said. “That’s a good story to put together.” Wall Street is preparing for a slowdown in travel over the coming months following a record-breaking summer stemming from pent-up demand during the pandemic. Despite this backdrop, Mahaney views many travel businesses more favorably than other digital companies that benefitted from Covid-19 tailwinds and must now cut costs amid a weakening macro environment. “Travel companies cut costs way early on, so they already go into this softening environment with lean and mean cost structures,” Mahaney said. Against this backdrop, Mahaney also likes Airbnb , but views Booking as a more favorable travel play because it’s less expensive. Mahaney joins CNBC Pro Talks for a live discussion Friday .
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