Hilton Slides Thursday After Missing Earnings Estimates Shares of Hilton Worldwide skidded Thursday after the hotel operator missed quarterly earnings estimates. Nonetheless, Wall Street analysts remain upbeat about the company s recovery prospects. Free Book Preview
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Email This story originally appeared on MarketBeat Shares of Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) fell 1.56% Thursday following disappointing first-quarter results.
The company operates over 4,000 hotels, timeshare properties, and resorts around the globe. Of course, given the continued pandemic disruptions to the hotel industry, especially internationally, analysts’ expectations were on the low side. Even so, earnings of $0.02 per share missed the consensus estimate of $0.05 per share.
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A disappointing April jobs report in the U.S. is the latest reminder many businesses are staring down the upcoming peak summer travel season with nowhere near the staffing levels needed to accommodate demand. But hotels still have some reasons to celebrate, even as anxiety over that labor shortage in travel grows.
The hotel industry added 54,000 jobs the biggest monthly gain since last September and hotel unemployment dropped to 13.8 percent from the 19.9 percent seen in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The U.S. overall added 266,000 jobs last month, well below economist expectations the number might eclipse 1 million.
Oil edges lower as traders focus on U.S. gasoline demand (WTI 65.14). Initial jobless claims fall but over 16 million Americans remain jobless.
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European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.06%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.43% and 0.07% respectively.
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Hedge Funds Bet On Higher Oil Prices Money managers intimate a growing confidence that oil prices have room to run higher this year, thanks to expectations of a robust economic rebound and rising global demand for crude. Last week, hedge funds added the most bullish positions in the oil complex in more than two and a half months, with the net long in crude oil futures jumping to the highest in six weeks. Rising mobility, the reopening of the economies, and the stimulus packages all point to strong economic growth and consequently, strong oil demand growth. The low-int
This is as good as I ve felt since the pandemic started in terms of where we are and what I see in forward-looking trends and bookings in the business, Nassetta said in an interview on Closing Bell.
Leisure travel has been propelling the industry s recovery so far, and Nassetta said he expects to see record numbers in that category this summer. However, a return of business travelers is crucial for a complete rebound in the hospitality sector. Business travel, while it s lagging, it s coming back. It s probably about half the levels that we saw at the prior peak, Nassetta said. Group and events are lagging that, but they re coming back.
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Hilton Worldwide president and CEO Christopher Nassetta is optimistic about the future of travel and for Hilton. He s basing this optimism on having chaired and attended the World Travel and Tourism Council s global summit in Mexico, where more than 800 participants attended in person, as well as on data that supports the view that the slope of the recovery has steepened since the company released its fourth-quarter 2020 results. It was great to be in the same room with other hospitality and government leaders talking about the bright future that lies ahead for our industry, Nassetta said during a Wednesday first-quarter earnings call. The event made me even more optimistic for our recovery and confident that we are beginning to see a new era of travel emerge.