Marriott earnings preview

In July the company issued guidance for its third quarter for earnings between $0.09 and $0.14 and full year EPS of $0.76 to $0.86 for the full year. Analysts had been expecting full year EPS of $0.82 per share, and will be looking to see if the company adjusts full year guidance in tomorrow's earnings call.

In July the company stated that it assumed it would see a drop of between 17 and 20% in its RevPAR during 2009 in its North American business. RevPAR is the revenue that the company makes per room, and is a vital indicator of a hotel's business strength. This will be another area that investors will be paying attention to tomorrow.

Marriott is a perfect example of a company that is feeling the pain of the economic recession. Over the past year more and more people have cut back on travel plans, leading to lower occupancies at hotels across the nation.

Yesterday, the independent financial advisory group Collins Stewart initiated coverage on the stock with a Hold rating and stated it believes that Marriott will feel the effects of an industry wide decline in U.S. rooms growth over the next couple of years, but feels that its strong international presence should help the company deal the the U.S. shortfall. Just last night the company celebrated the grand opening of the new Bogota Marriott in Columbia.

The stock is trading down 0.8% in afternoon trading ahead of tomorrow's earnings report.