Sabre (SABR) Commences Partnership With Biman Bangladesh
Sabre Corporation SABR has recently signed a strategic partnership with the national air carrier of Bangladesh, Biman Bangladesh. Per the deal, the travel tech company will be providing its Global Distribution System (“GDS”) and SabreSonic Passenger Service System (“PSS”) solutions to the Asian airline.
Using Sabre’s PSS platform, along with a wide range of other technology solutions (including its GDS), the Dhaka-based airline intends to accelerate its digital transformation process and provide new and personalized experiences to its customer base worldwide.
On the other hand, the deal is likely to aid the leading travel-related software and technology provider in expanding its customer share in the Airlines Solutions segment. Sabre has its customer base spread over 160 nations with more than 425,000 agency partners globally. It is one of the largest marketplaces in the world, managing approximately $260 billion worth of global travel spending annually.
A Pipeline of Deals
Following a severe downturn in its earnings due to the pandemic, Sabre has been showing signs of a turnaround lately, with consecutive deal wins from major global airlines, hoteliers and travel agencies. A few days ago, Sabre strengthened its long-term relationship with Qatar Airways by signing an agreement to provide New Distribution Capability-enabled solutions. In July, it expanded its SabreSonic passenger service system deal with Alaska Airlines.
Before that, the company signed a multi-year contract with UK-based Polani Travel Group. Per the deal, Polani Travel Group will utilize Sabre’s technology platform to support growth plans and future innovations. Sabre has also partnered with Curator Hotel & Resort Collection to provide hospitality solutions.
In June, Sabre entered into a deal with Indonesia's Lion Air Group for enhancing its ancillary revenue capabilities and upgrading its performance with technological assistance. SabreSonic was selected by SCAT Airlines in late June.
In May, the company entered into a transformative global distribution agreement with Delta Air Lines to provide commercial and technological innovations to the latter.
Sabre Corporation Price and Consensus
Sabre Corporation price-consensus-chart | Sabre Corporation Quote
Earlier in 2021, it signed an agreement with JetBlue Airways Corporation for assisting technology migration to Sabre’s Revenue Optimizer solution.
With a rise in vaccination efforts and lifting of restrictions across the world, the industry is gradually recovering from the pandemic-induced woes. Hence, Sabre is well-poised to capitalize on the improving market scenario for the travel industry.
The company’s net air bookings improved 17 percentage points sequentially in second-quarter 2021. Sabre has seen a significant rise in global hotel and air bookings in the company’s largest region, North America.
Though its latest financial results reflect significant year-over-year improvements in gross bookings and reservation-system transactions, the metrics are still down by over 50% from second-quarter 2019. Sabre also refrained from issuing an outlook citing uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on its financials, which is disappointing.
With the emergence of the more contagious coronavirus variant — Delta — several parts of the world, including India, Australia, Indonesia and Japan, are grappling with a massive spike in infection rates, leading to stringent restrictions. Some parts of the United States are also witnessing the Delta variant outbreaks. This could affect the overall travel industry as governments across the world may impose travel restrictions again.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Sabre currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Avnet AVT, Apple AAPL and CyberOptics Corporation CYBE, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The long-term earnings growth rate of Avnet, Apple and CyberOptics are pegged at 25.4%, 12.7% and 12%, respectively.
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