Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels stock falls after REIT sees negative impact of COVID-19 lasting 'well after' restrictions are liftedShares of Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. shed 1.3% in morning trading Monday, after the real estate investment trust (REIT) which manages luxury hotels said it expects the COVID-19 pandemic to have a "material negative impact" on financial results "well after" restrictive measures to contain the outbreak have been lifted. The company said it suspended operations at 35 hotels during the first quarter, and as of Aug. 30, operations at 10 of those hotels are still suspended. During the second quarter and through July, Host Hotels said demand at its hotels was primarily leisure demand at drive-to and resort destinations. For the month ended July 31, the company said the average occupancy at its hotels was 12.9%, the average revenue per available room (RevPAR) was $22.94, the average daily rate was $177.76 and total revenue was $52 million. For reference, the FactSet consensus for third-quarter revenue is $305 million. Host Hotels's stock has dropped 37.8% year to date, while the SPDR Real Estate Select Sector ETF has slipped 6.0% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.5%.

SunTrust analyst throws in the towel on 6 hotel stocks, says sell ahead of earningsAnalyst Patrick Scholes at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey has thrown in the towel Friday on six hotel stocks ahead of earnings, saying he expects the companies to miss expectations that have already been set low, citing indications that the expected recovery will take longer than previously anticipated given in sunshine states. "Three months ago, we had optimistically believed and modeled that business travel would begin to show green shoots in July; however, we are increasingly concerned that such optimism was far too hopeful, especially for business and group-centric hotels," Scholes wrote in a note to clients. "We are now nearly in August and have seen scant evidence that such a recovery has begun to take hold, both from out statistically significant 'big data' research, anecdotal conversations with privately held hotel companies and from corporate travel departments." He downgraded Diamondrock Hospitality Co. , Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. , Hyatt Hotels Corp. , Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. [: rhp] and Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. to sell from hold, and Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. to sell from buy. Separately, analyst Gregory Miller upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust to hold from sell, saying the company could be a potential outperformer during a demand recovery.