Booking Holdings (BKNG) delivered better-than-expected Q2 results despite travel disruption tied to the Middle East, a headwind that is weighing on the company's Q3 outlook, RBC Capital Markets said Wednesday in a report.

The lowered guidance sets a conservative bar for Q3, RBC said. Referrals from large-language-model platforms remain below 1% of total room nights, limiting the impact of AI-driven discovery channels on near-term performance, the report said.

RBC pointed to an incremental $100 million in run-rate cost savings and management's reiterated low-to-mid-teens EPS growth target as supportive of durable capital returns. At the same time, management has cited search-engine-optimization pressure and weaker marketing returns as ongoing challenges, the report said.

RBC maintained its outperform rating on Booking stock and its $220 price target.

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