U.S. Hotel Stock Tracking Index Up 3.4% in April

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According to Robert W. Baird & Company and STR, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index ended April with a 3.4-percent increase to 2,507, and it is up 23.8-percent year-to-date 2012. The index ended 2011 at 2,025.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed both the MSCI REIT (RMZ) (+2.7 percent) and the S&P 500 (-0.7 percent) in April.

"While April was only a decent month for the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index, investor interest continued to be up significantly year to date," said Randy Smith, chairman and co-founder of STR. "We expect this interest to continue as the industry reports strong performance leading up to the summer travel season."

"Hotel stocks continued their outperformance in April as better-than-expected first quarter earnings from Marriott International, LaSalle Hotel Properties, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Host Hotels & Resorts drove stock prices higher. The first wave of strong earnings from these companies set the bar high, and the second set of earnings later in the month and into May, while strong, were met with some skepticism," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird. "Management teams expect fundamentals to remain strong for the rest of the year, and acquisitions and capital recycling have a renewed focus given the improvement in equity prices."

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.