HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn., and MILWAUKEE — The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index rose 1.7 percent in May to a level of 3,232. Year to date through the first five months of 2020, the stock index was down 38.7 percent.
“Hotel stocks were relatively flat in May, which reflected underperformance during the first part of the month but a sharp reversal in the back half of May as the broader re-opening trade gained momentum and stock prices recovered,” said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. “Industry data continues to be less bad on a sequential weekly basis, and investors’ worst-case zero-occupancy scenarios, which included significant monthly cash burn rate assumptions, have not materialized as initially feared.”
“As distancing measures have been eased and economies have reopened, we’ve seen a slow but steady improvement in U.S. performance each week since late April,” said Amanda Hite, STR’s president. “China is the furthest ahead in the curve, and Europe is just beginning to show the earliest signs of recovery. A sustained global rebound for the industry will likely only be reached once corporate group travel returns, but with a vaccine rollout timeline far off, and online meeting tools quite successful, the timing of new group demand is questionable right now.”
May performance of the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index fell behind the S&P 500 (up 4.5 percent) but outperformed the MSCI US REIT Index (0 percent).
The Hotel Brand sub-index grew 2.3 percent from April to 5,638, while the Hotel REIT sub-index increased 0.1 percent to 784.
