WSB722: BEST QUALITY STOCK IDEA Q2 2025

W/ CLAY FINCK & KYLE GRIEVE

15 May 2025

On today’s episode, Clay and Kyle give an overview of their best quality stock idea for Q2 2025. This quarter, they discuss Booking Holdings.

To our surprise, Booking Holdings is the world’s largest travel company. We explore how the company built a dominant position in Europe through its network effect, asset-light business model, and sound capital allocation decisions. We also cover Booking’s competitive advantages, financial performance, and key risks facing the business. 

Clay finds Bookings Holdings to be a compelling long-term compounder, which led him to initiate a position in the company earlier this year.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • Why Booking Holdings is one of the most dominant and profitable online travel agencies in the world.
  • How Booking built its dominant position in Europe and other markets globally.
  • An overview of the competitive landscape for online travel agencies.
  • Booking Holdings’ competitive advantages.
  • An overview of Bookings’ management team and incentive structure.
  • How we view Bookings’ valuation today.
  • And so much more!

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:00] Clay Finck: On today’s episode, Kyle and I give an overview of our best quality stock idea for Q2 2025. This quarter we discuss Booking Holdings, which is the stock I recently added to my own portfolio. To my surprise, Booking Holdings is the world’s largest travel company. The company has built a dominant position in Europe and established a formidable network effect that has enabled them to successfully expand globally leading to market beating returns for shareholders.

[00:00:26] Clay Finck: But the business doesn’t come without risks as Expedia and Airbnb also have a large share in the OTA industry. In addition to other threats such as AI and LLMs, Booking Holdings is a fascinating business. So with that, I hope you enjoy today’s discussion.

[00:00:45] Intro: Since 2014 and through more than 180 million downloads, we’ve studied the financial markets and read the books that influence self-made billionaires the most. We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected. Now for your host, Kyle Grieve.

[00:01:11] Clay Finck: Welcome to The Investor’s Podcast. I’m your host, Clay Finck, and today I am happy to be joined by my co-host, Kyle Grieve for our best quality idea series. For each quarter, Kyle and I break down a quality stock that we currently find interesting in the market for Q2 2025. We’ll be covering Booking Holdings.

[00:01:28] Clay Finck: This is a large cap company with a $160 billion market cap that I feel hasn’t quite got the attention that it probably deserves. So I’m really excited to dive into this one today.

[00:01:40] Kyle Grieve: Yeah, you nailed it, Clay. Booking Holdings is a surprisingly large business that I’ve actually used quite a bit, but more so from one of its ancillary services, which is OpenTable.

[00:01:48] Kyle Grieve: And it wasn’t until I started actually researching Bookings that I even realized that they owned OpenTable. And so for those of you who don’t know what OpenTable is, it’s a simple way to basically get a reservation at a restaurant in a specific neighborhood that you’re in. I tend to use it a lot in my hometown of Vancouver, but I’ve also used it abroad.

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