Deutsche Bank believes that AI-enabled search enhancements could strengthen the long-term outlook for Airbnb . The bank upgraded the short-term vacation rental marketplace to a buy rating from hold. Analyst Lee Horowitz also hiked his price target to $154 from $128. Shares of Airbnb have dipped 18% over the past 12 months and are down 15% on the year. Horowitz's updated forecast implies an additional 33% upside ahead. ABNB 1Y mountain ABNB 1Y chart Horowitz's upgrade comes on the heels of Airbnb's fourth-quarter revenue beat . The company's revenue came in at $2.78 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG had expected $2.72 billion. Airbnb also expects current-quarter revenue to come in between $2.59 billion and $2.63 billion, beating the $2.53 consensus estimate. Horowitz wrote that the broader demand backdrop for Airbnb remains strong. He also applauded two of its newer strategies that could serve as catalysts from here. "Of particular note from a product perspective was the Reserve Now Pay Later (RNPL) product that contributed meaningfully to North America Nights and the shift to a more simplified fee structure for hosts which brought down friction for these hosts in terms of how they price their homes," Horowitz said. "These two initiatives drove > 200bps of growth in the quarter and should remain a tailwind into 2026." The analyst also sees a full product pipeline for Airbnb which could help boost revenue growth. "The product pipeline into 26/27 strikes us as fairly full as fee structure benefits scale, the hotel business grows beyond its fairly nascent stage at the moment, AI native search serves to drive up conversion, and the more streamlined fee structure allows for more smarter pricing by hosts and more market by market fee decisions by Airbnb, to say nothing of the potential benefits of Sponsored Advertising and Experiences and Services in the years to come," he wrote. Horowitz added that while Airbnb is not immune to AI-driven disintermediation, the company is better shielded than peers given its fragmented supply and the potential for more AI-rich search to drive higher conversion. This has boosted the risk-reward balance for Airbnb, making it attractive at its current levels.
