Baird/STR U.S. Hotel Stock Index Upticks 2.6 Percent in June

---

STR reported today the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index reported a 2.6-percent increase to 3,538 in June 2014, and the index is up 11.4 percent year to date. The index ended 2013 at 3,177.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed both the S&P 500 (+1.9 percent) and the MSCI REIT (RMZ) (+0.7 percent) in June.

"Hotel stocks continued to increase in June," said Randy Smith, co-founder and chairman of STR. "Hotel performance also continues to stay strong as we expected this summer. Revenue per available room recorded the highest monthly growth (+10.0 percent) of any May on record, and preliminary results for June are showing another strong month for RevPAR growth. With two more months left in the summer we expect to continue to see positive growth for hotels."

"Hotel stocks continued their outperformance in June as RevPAR growth trends once again exceeded expectations," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird.

"Investors have high expectations heading into the second-quarter earnings season, which will begin later this month, and most expect fundamentals to remain strong in the back half of the year; valuations are at cycle highs and stocks appear to be pricing in much of this expected strong growth."
 
Robert W. Baird and Co. and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index, the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry.