Shares of Marriott (
MAR
) are down about 0.6 percent from Tuesday's closing price as
traders seem to be positioning themselves somewhat cautiously ahead
of the company's second-quarter results, expected out this
afternoon following the closing bell.
Analysts are currently anticipating Marriott will report quarterly
earnings of 42 cents per share on sales of $2.84 billion. The
company posted first-quarter 2012 earnings of 30 cents per share
and second-quarter 2011 EPS of 31 cents. According to our
Earnings History
page, the Street is usually a pretty good predictor of Marriott's
results: the company beat analysts' earnings estimate by 1 cent
last quarter, missed by 1 cent for the fourth quarter, and beat by
2 cents for the third quarter of last year.
Marriott shares have been quiet since mid-April, but, due to a
sharp move higher in January, the stock is up more than 30 percent
so far in 2012.
Our
Ratings
page for Marriott shows 17 firms with a Buy rating on the stock,
four firms at Hold and no firms suggesting to sell.
Analyst Commentary:
- Deutsche Bank - Looking for a slightly better-than-expected
report amid solid domestic Smith Travel Research trends. The firm
said to look for the following items on the company's conference
call: "1) share repurchase activity, 2) group booking
pace/trends, 3) International (European) trends and forward
booking indicators, 4) development pipeline activity, and 5)
corporate transient trends given the changes in the macro
backdrop in the 2Q."
On July 9th, the firm boosted its FY13 EPS estimate from $2.04 to
$2.11 and its sales estimate from $12.751 billion to $12.777
billion.
Maintains Hold and $44 price target.
- Cantor Fitzgerald - Modeling for quarterly revPAR growth of 8
percent and fee sales of about $358 million. To put it simply,
the firm believes a "steady as she goes" sentiment will prevail
moving forward. Cantor said the bottom line is "hotel demand
growth continues to exceed supply growth, and this is pushing
occupancies higher and bolstering pricing power."
Maintains Buy rating and $43 price target.
Marriott generally reports right around 4:30pm ET. Stay tuned to
our
Earnings
category to get a full breakdown of Marriott's earnings within just
seconds of the company's press release.