Yahoo Finance What's in the Offing for Host Hotels (HST) in Q1 Earnings?
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. HST is scheduled to release first-quarter 2024 earnings results on May 5, after market close. While the quarterly results are likely to display year-over-year growth in revenues, funds from operations (FFO) per share may decline.
In the previous quarter, the Bethesda, MD-based lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) met the Zacks Consensus Estimate in terms of adjusted FFO per share. Results reflected higher revenues, driven by year-over-year occupancy growth.
Over the trailing four quarters, Host Hotels’ adjusted FFO per share surpassed estimates on two occasions, missed in one occasion and met in the remaining period, the average beat being 6.59%. The graph below depicts this surprise history:
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Quote
Factors at Play
Host Hotels enjoys a portfolio of luxury and upper-scale hotels across the top U.S. Markets and lucrative Sunbelt region. These properties are strategically located in central business districts of major cities with proximity to airports and resort/conference destinations, driving demand.
The improvement in group travel demand and business transient demand — led by the healthy demand from small and medium-sized businesses — have aided occupancy and hotel revenue per available (RevPAR) growth over the past few quarters. This trend is likely to have continued in the first quarter.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly RevPAR stands at $221.6, indicating an increase of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus mark for the average occupancy rate is pegged at 68.62%, suggesting an improvement from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure of 68.40%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HST’s quarterly revenues is presently pegged at $1.43 billion, implying growth of 3.3% from the prior-year period’s reported figure.
Host Hotels’ strategic capital allocations to improve its portfolio quality and strengthen its position in the United States, where it has a greater scale and competitive advantage, are likely to have given it an edge and driven margin expansion.
However, high interest expenses are expected to have been a spoilsport. We expect first-quarter 2024 interest expenses to rise 2.1% year over year.
The company’s activities during the to-be-reported quarter were inadequate to garner analysts’ confidence. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the FFO per share has been revised a cent downward to 54 cents in the past month. Moreover, the figure implies a 1.8% fall from the year-ago reported number.
What Our Quantitative Model Predicts
Our proven model does not conclusively predict a surprise in terms of FFO per share for Host Hotels this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an FFO beat, which is not the case here.
Host Hotels currently has an Earnings ESP of -2.18% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks That Warrant a Look
Here are two stocks from the broader REIT sector — Boston Properties BXP and Public Storage PSA — you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to report a surprise this quarter.
Boston Properties, scheduled to report quarterly numbers on Apr 30, has an Earnings ESP of +0.15% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Public Storage is slated to report quarterly numbers on Apr 30. PSA has an Earnings ESP of +0.50% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3 presently.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (HST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Public Storage (PSA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Boston Properties, Inc. (BXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
