By Sam Boughedda
A Berenberg analyst upgraded shares of hotel stocks Hilton (NYSE:HLT), Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H), and Marriott (NASDAQ:MAR) to Buy from Hold on Thursday.
The analyst also raised the price targets on each stock, with Hilton's boosted to $152 from $140, Hyatt's increased to $105 from $85, and Marriott's lifted to $185 from $165.
He explained that the accelerating recovery in performance for lodging names has not been adequately reflected in share price moves due to ongoing concerns about the outlook for the macro environment.
"Our analysis suggests that these concerns are overblown and that the outlook for revenue per available room (RevPAR) for 2023 and 2024 is that it will strengthen further. Against this backdrop, the clear evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic is of the resilience of the asset-light structure and there is no evidence that there is increased structural risk to either business travel or a migration away to disruptors like Airbnb and the online travel agencies," wrote the analyst.
"The hotel sub-sector now becomes our preferred play among our coverage universe and we raise Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott to Buy while lifting the price targets of all the global operators," he added.