Yellow Flag on Hotel REITs

During the release of Q2 results last week, several lodging stocks relayed the weakening of corporate transient demand. This has led some management teams to be more cautious while several have decided to review their 2016 guidance figures. Hotel REITs are not saying how long this will take, but they have confirmed that the second half of the year will suffer from the lingering effect.

The main cause has been the macro environment. Many uncertainties have led many companies, regardless of their size, to spend less and also cut travel expenses. Plus, the geopolitical tensions and fears of terrorism have discouraged travelers. With domestic and global events such as Brexit, China economy, oil prices, and U.S. elections, companies are lacking a clear horizon.

Hilton Worldwide, which is planning to spin off to create ‘Park Hotels & Resorts REIT,' has mentioned on their Q2 call that, because of corporate transient, they remain on the lower end of their guidance range. While the corporate transient segment is slowing down, the group business is still doing well.

FelCor Lodging Trust, which is significantly exposed to the business traveler customer base, has also reported they are expecting group business to remain solid. While the group business partially offsets the decline in business transient performance, they are still continuing to expect negative effects on hotel metrics.

The Dow Jones U.S. Hotel & Lodging index has dropped by 4% by Wednesday, in tandem with most hotel REITs, but it has quickly recovered. Regarding last week's worst performers, FelCor went down by 8%, Pebblebrook fell by 5%, and Hersha dropped by 3%.

Although the softness was detected a couple of months ago, a stronger impact has recently thrown down a yellow flag on hotels, whose operational results have been doing well. While on the other hand, the softening has made a low to moderate impact on the results. Many management teams have reported that there are ways to mitigate the impact.

In conclusion, the softening is not all bad, but it still will require some monitoring.

Source: Dow Jones U.S. Hotel & Lodging (^DJUSHL), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.HLT, FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated FCH, Pebblebrook Hotel TrustPEB, Hersha Hospitality TrustHT

Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. The highest-yield stocks are not necessarily the best portfolio investment choice. The purpose of this report — which is essentially a snapshot of information available on July 29, 2016 — is to reduce your stock analysis by enabling you to compare stock and sector performance. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment decision.

As of May 31, 2016, the equity REITs are constituent companies of the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index. Companies whose equity market capitalization is lower than $100 million have been disregarded.

This report is not engaged in rendering tax, accounting, or other professional advice through this publication. No statement in this issue is to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or other investment. Some information presented in this publication has been obtained from third-party sources considered to be reliable. Sources are not required to make representations as to the accuracy of the information, however, and consequently the publisher cannot guarantee accuracy.

Disclosure: The author is long FCH, XHR, CLDT, PEB.