Starwood Hotels (HOT) Shares Rise 4% Before Falling With Market
February 04, 2010 6:59 PM
Hotel and leisure company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE: HOT) on Thursday reported that it had swung to a loss in the 4th quarter but that the outlook for 2010 had improved.
The stock climbed over 4% on the news of an improved outlook before falling along with the market.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide reported losses of $107 million, or 59 cents per share, for the 4th quarter, compared with a profit of $79 million, or 44 cents per share, for the 4th quarter of 2008, while revenue fell 1.2% to $1.28 billion.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide booked a pretax charge of $431 million in the 4th quarter, including a pretax, non-cash impairment charge of $362 million related to inventory, fixed assets and goodwill at Starwood Vacation Ownership.
Adjusted earnings from continuing operations came in at 51 cents per share.
Starwood forecast 2010 earnings of about 63 cents per share, excluding one time charges.
A survey of analysts by FactSet, revealed a consensus forecast of 59 cents per share.
"We believe [the company's] outlook is a function of recent stabilizing performance as evidenced by weekly trends, " wrote J.P. Morgan analyst (NYSE: JPM) Joe Greff.
He went on to say that even though "booking windows remain short and visibility is not great, close in bookings are encouraging [and the] outlook bodes well for all lodging equities."
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