Marriott International (MAR) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Marriott International (MAR) closed at $83.66, marking a +1.31% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.9%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.13%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the hotel company had gained 16.99% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 17.93% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 14.3% in that time.

MAR will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be May 11, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.95, down 32.62% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.06 billion, down 19.01% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.78 per share and revenue of $13.64 billion, which would represent changes of -53.67% and -34.95%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MAR. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 35.97% lower. MAR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Digging into valuation, MAR currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 29.74. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 27.47, so we one might conclude that MAR is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that MAR currently has a PEG ratio of 4.92. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Hotels and Motels industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 4.92 as of yesterday's close.

The Hotels and Motels industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 228, putting it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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