U.S. Hotel Sector Stock Tracking Index Upticks in February

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According to STR, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index ended February with a 1.1% increase to 2,313; the index ended 2011 at 2,025.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed the MSCI REIT (RMZ) in February, which reported a 1.4-percent decrease. The S&P 500 ended the month with a 4.1-percent increase.

"The hotel industry's performance held steady during the first part of the year," said Randy Smith, chairman and co-founder of STR. "The ever-changing economic landscape may keep some investors at bay, but we are hoping to see continued interest with the steady performance of the industry."

"We downgraded our hotel sector rating to Market-Weight in mid-February as investor expectations were high and stock valuations were full heading into fourth-quarter earnings," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird. "Managements' 2012 guidance has been conservative and investor expectations for the year have been reset lower. Fundamentals are still strong, however, and we remain bullish on the longer-term lodging recovery."

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000, as its starting point. The Index reached its peak of 3,178 on 5 July 2007. The Index's lowest point occurred on 6 March 2009, when it dropped to 573.

Robert W. Baird & Company and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index [ the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry.