Marriott International Inc.’s stock
MAR,
fell by 4.4% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the hotel operator’s fourth-quarter revenue and 2024 profit outlook fell short of analysts’ estimates, although its profit in the latest quarter rose.
Marriott
MAR,
said its fourth-quarter net income increased to $848 million, or $2.87 a share, from $673 million, or $2.12 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Marriott’s adjusted fourth-quarter profit of $3.57 a share beat the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.12 a share.
Fourth-quarter revenue increased to $6.1 billion from $5.9 billion but missed the analyst estimate of $6.2 billion.
Marriott said its hotel leisure revenue has recovered to exceed levels in 2019, which marked the last year before the travel impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While already significantly above 2019 levels, hotel leisure revenue rose again, up 2%,” the company said. “Business transient revenue at our hotels grew 3% from the year-ago quarter, with demand from large corporate customers continuing to make gains.”
Looking ahead, Marriott expects adjusted first-quarter profit of $2.12 a share to $2.19 a share, below the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.30 a share.
For 2024, Marriott is projecting adjusted earnings of $9.18 to $9.52 a share, below the analyst estimate of $9.68 a share.
Marriott said it expects to return $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion to shareholders in 2024 after factoring in its $500 million acquisition of the Sheraton Grand Chicago.
Also read: Marriott and Hilton added thousands of hotel rooms in 2023 amid travel rebound
