Shares of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. was little changed in premarket trading Wednesday, after the hotel operator swung to a fourth-quarter profit that was in line with expectations, while revenue more than doubled to top forecasts. The company reported net income of $147 million, or 52 cents a share, after a loss of $224 million, or 81 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents matched the FactSet consensus. Revenue grew 106.3% to $1.84 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.80 billion. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) jumped 104.2% from a year ago, beating the FactSet consensus for an 83.1% increase, but was down 13.5% from the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019. The company said that while some hotels suspended operations during 2021, as the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus spread, re-openings significantly outpaced suspensions. “Although new variants of the virus have had some short-term impact, we are optimistic about the acceleration of recovery across all segments during 2022,” said Chief Executive Christopher Nassetta. The stock has rallied 11.5% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has slipped 4.9%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
