Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase Despite Russia’s War and Fed Rate Hike

Three dividend-paying resort stocks to purchase seem safe from Russia’s war in the Ukraine and fallout from the Fed’s 0.50% rate hike on Dec. 14 that was the smallest in the past seven months.

The three dividend-paying resort stocks to purchase are well diversified in other regions of the world that are have been recovering from the economic ills of the COVID-19 pandemic that had been easing in recent months. As restrictions and supply chain problems on consumers and businesses have waned, along with new cases and deaths, travel and leisure have been rebounding, especially among those whose financial resources are robust. However, the risk of a new and widespread outbreak in China is mounting, according to public health officials there.

A glance at third-quarter earnings by BofA Global Research analysts shows that 11 of 16 lodging companies, including resorts, met or beat expectations, with the group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) coming in about 4% ahead, despite revenues up just 1%. Resorts are revealing margin recovery, despite slowing compared to prior quarters, as demand is strong to stable with no cracks, while overall revenue per available room (RevPAR) trends seem to be flattening, BofA reported.

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Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase Include Host Hotels & Resorts

Penson fund Chairman Bob Carlson called the world’s largest lodging real estate investment trust (REIT), Bethesda, Maryland-based Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: HST), a good but speculative investment. The company recently opted to focus on North American travel by selling most of its European and Asian businesses, he said.

HST, with a current dividend yield of 2.8%, focuses on luxury and up-scale hotels and resorts, said Carlson, who also heads the Retirement Watch investment newsletter. Some industry analysts believe this strategy makes the company more resistant to recessions, but its marginal upper-income customers may reduce leisure travel to HST’s resorts during a recession, Carlson continued.

“The shares sell at a good value, though the company beat expectations recently,” Carlson counseled. “HST should be considered a leveraged play on travel. It is likely to do better than the average lodging company if travel continues to increase but will decline more than average in a recession.

Bob Carlson, head of the Retirement Watch investment newsletter, talks to Paul Dykewicz.

Seasoned Trader Earned Profit from One of Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase

Bryan Perry, a seasoned Wall Street trader and leader of the Premium Income Pro advisory service, recommended both the shares and call options of Host Hotels & Resorts. Perry turned a profit of more than 10% in roughly 10 months with those trades, despite the major indexes falling at the same time.

The U.S. government’s release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November showed a smaller-than-forecast 0.1% increase, compared to consensus estimates of 0.3%. The initial reaction by the market was a 700-point move to the upside for the Dow in the opening half-hour on Dec. 13, followed by fading price action in the middle of the day, commented Perry, who also leads the high-yield-focused Cash Machine investment newsletter.

“While the headline was seen as quite bullish, the composition of the report showed that inflation is still pretty elevated in a number of areas,” Perry wrote to his Premium Income Pro subscribers. “But the key takeaway from the report at first glance is that overall inflation is starting to cool. So, the Fed should be convinced to temper the pace of its interest rate hikes and perhaps place a lower ceiling on its terminal rate.”

Paul Dykewicz interviews Bryan Perry, head of Premium Income Pro.

Host Hotels & Resorts announced a big acquisition on Nov. 2, when it bought the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole, a 125-room luxury resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for approximately $315 million in cash. The purchase price represents a 13.6x EBITDA multiple, or a cap rate of approximately 6.6%, on the Resort’s 2022 estimated results.

The resort is expected to be one of Host’s top three assets, based on estimated full year 2022 results, further improving the quality of the company’s portfolio.

Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase Feature Unique Ski in/Ski out Resort

The Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole is one of only a handful of luxury ski in and ski out resorts in the United States. The resort sits on 6.3 acres in Teton Village, just steps from the gondola at the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, which is regarded as one of the top-rated U.S. ski destinations. Near downtown Jackson and in close proximity to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, the resort is a year-round destination where future supply is expected to be severely restricted.

Opened in 2003, the resort underwent a major guestroom renovation in 2022. No disruptive capital expenditures are expected in the near term, the company announced. In addition, the Jackson Hole Airport is undergoing a $65 million renovation and expansion, scheduled for completion by year-end, to better accommodate year-round demand, shrinking shoulder seasons and increasing visitor growth.

For people with extra the money to spend, the resort has 125 oversized rooms and suites that average approximately 650 square feet with gas fireplaces, balconies and dramatic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. The resort includes a five-bedroom, 4,700 square foot penthouse, and offers nearly 9,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, three upscale food and beverage outlets with a pool café, two retail outlets and a 16-treatment room alpine spa.

The resort further offers an on-site ski concierge, a private ski club, a kids club and a fitness center. It also features an additional 44 private residences, which are not owned by Host, ranging in size from 1,700 to 3,700 square feet. Of the 44 residences, 30 currently participate in a rental program through the resort.

Host’s President and Chief Executive Officer James F. Risoleo said the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole is an “iconic, irreplaceable asset” in a new market for the company. From 2014 through 2019, the resort achieved a revenue per available room compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8%, significantly outperforming a RevPAR CAGR of 4.3% for its “ultra-luxury” peers during the same time.

With year-round demand generators, no new supply on the horizon and a recent comprehensive guestroom renovation, Host management stated the resort is well positioned to continue outperforming its peers for the long term. Such results would drive value for company shareholders, Host’s management added.

Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase Vie for Best-in-Class EBITDA Growth

Host management has a goal of producing best-in-class EBITDA growth to drive long-term, risk-adjusted returns for its stockholders. The company’s aim is to create long-term stockholder value by acquiring, selling, renovating and developing luxury and upper upscale hotels, primarily in the United States. The company currently has 78 hotels, 42,200 rooms and holds non-controlling interests in one international and seven domestic joint ventures.

The company’s management expressed the view that the resort’s 2022 performance is muted due to the guest room renovation during the first half of the year, as well as Jackson Hole Airport’s closure for approximately three months during the year. By growing year-round occupancy to historical levels and repositioning the food and beverage outlets and public spaces, the company expects the resort to stabilize at approximately 11-13x EBITDA in the 2026-2028 timeframe.

Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase Cater to Luxury Consumers

BofA gave Host a $18 price objective, based on approximately 9x the investment firm’s 2023 estimated adjusted EBITDA, consistent with the group’s multiple range and history. BofA opined the multiple is warranted given Host’s asset quality, “best-in-class management team” and significant equity market liquidity, which helps differentiate the company from its peers.

However, Host has “meaningful” Top 25 U.S. market exposure, particularly in urban cores that are underperforming due to the pandemic, BofA added.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Potential outperformance of BofA’s price target by HST could be spurred by better-than-expected RevPAR growth and higher-than-forecast earnings gains from a rise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. Risks that could cause Host to miss the price objective are a weakening in the overall economic environment, leading to lower levels of business travel and depressed leisure spending, higher-than-expected room supply growth and unforeseen circumstances, such as war or acts of terrorism.

Vail Ranks Among Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase

Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), of Broomfield, Colorado, is another BofA recommendation, as well as a holding of New York-based Baron Funds. Vail’s focus includes using data to drive a unique, advanced customer commitment for a recurring business model. MTN is also well positioned to benefit from high-end, pent-up leisure demand in the coming ski season.

Baron Growth Fund (BGRFX) is a prominent shareholder of Vail Resorts. Michelle Connell, the chief executive officer of Portia Capital Management, of Dallas, Texas, is another fan of Vail.

Michelle Connell leads Dallas-based Portia Capital Management.

Key reasons Connell provided for investing in MTN include:

• Strong growing revenues in a softening economy. Despite MTN increasing ticket prices 7.5%, the company’s revenue from ski passes was already up 7% for the year through the end of September 2022.
• $320 Million Invested for Improved Consumer Experience. Just in time for the 2022-23 ski season, MTN invested $320 million to install 19 new chairlifts across 14 of its resorts.
• Investment in Data Infrastructure. MTN has also invested heavily so that the online experience of its consumers is smoother and faster.
• MTN should appeal to the environmentally conscious young investor who also skis. The company is ahead of schedule to meet its target of 2030 to have a zero net (carbon) operating footprint.
• Estimated 12-month upside for MTN:15-25%.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Wyndham Wraps up List of Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: WH), of Parsippany, New Jersey, netted a $85 price objective and a buy recommendation from BoA. The valuation is based on roughly 15x of BofA’s 2023 estimated EBITDA, a discount to trading peers such as Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT), of McLean, Virginia, Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) and Rockville, Maryland-based Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH). The value also is in-line with the long-term average of asset-light lodging C-corps, BofA added.

BofA opined that Wyndham’s multiple is warranted due to WH’s competitive advantage in scale and stability in earnings from its pure franchised business. The market is discounting WH to factor in an historically significant number of deletions every year, offset by a business that’s almost based solely on fees. The price objective is also in-line with a midcycle multiple on recovery earnings discounted back to 2022 estimates.

Outperformance above BofA’s price target for WH could occur due to an accelerating RevPAR environment, aided by better macroeconomic data, greater-than-expected margin expansion and net-unit-growth ahead of expectations. Risks to BofA’s price objective are greater-than-expected economic weakness, bigger-than-forecast dips in travel demand, deepened delays in hotel development that may slow system growth, worse-than-expected business and consumer spending, along with declines in overall travel demand.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Connell Likes Hyatt as an Alternative to the Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase

Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) has not paid a dividend since Feb. 25, 2020, but it still received a $110 price objective from BofA, based on a valuation below more “asset-light peers” such as Hilton. BofA describes Hyatt as a way to ride a recovery in the hotel business cycle and to tap fee-based revenue, strong net unit growth (NUG), recovery potential and operating leverage through group and corporate-owned-hotel exposure, incentive management fee recovery and valuation multiple expansion.

BofA’s price target could be exceeded due to possible catalysts that include Hyatt’s asset sales exceeding expectations, acquisition of Apple Leisure Group giving additional upside, pent-up demand returning stronger than expected in second-half 2022 and net unit growth continuing to outperform lodging peers. Key risks to the price goal are maintaining significant exposure to China, which may face headwinds due to its strict zero-COVID policies, as well as cases of the virus pushing a return-to-office trend further out to act as a headwind to corporate travel and heavy exposure to the luxury segment that has lagged the rest of the lodging industry, BofA wrote.

At the onset of November, Hyatt reported a strong third-quarter performance. The company’s recent acquisition of the Apple Leisure Group, a luxury resort management service company, made the difference, said Connell, a former portfolio manager who now heads Dallas-based Portia Capital Management. The purchase allowed Hyatt to double its global resort footprint.

Now, 70% of Hyatt global portfolio is in the luxury and upscale hospitality segment. This bodes well, since the luxury consumer has not stopped spending on travel, Connell said.

Business travel is recovering from the pandemic, with 2022 near Hyatt’s pre-pandemic mark and 2023 looking bright, Connell said. Group booking revenue for the third quarter of 2022 finished just 3% below 2019 levels.

COVID-19 Should Not Endanger Three Dividend-paying Resort Stocks to Purchase

China is facing what is could be the world’s largest COVID surge since the pandemic began. Public health officials there are predicting as many as 800 million people could be infected with the coronavirus in the next few months. Several models predict that at least a half million people might die. One expert forecasts 10% of the planet’s population may become infected over the course of the next 90 days.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week urged people to wear masks to deter the spread of COVID-19, a circulating strain of the flu and a serious respiratory virus. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said doing so would cut the chance of catching or spreading such virulent viruses.

With flu and respiratory syncytial virus spreading at high levels in the United States as COVID cases recently rose, America’s hospital emergency departments are strained. Walensky said everyone who is eligible to receive a bivalent booster and a flu shot should get them.

China’s economy may gain a short-term boost from relaxing its COVID-19-related lockdowns a bit, but if the virus causes a spike in cases and deaths in that country, shutdowns may resume. Lockdowns weaken the supply of goods and related public protests likely will ensue, as they have in the past when people in China are unable to go to work, shop and obtain additional food. A real estate slump also could occur in the world’s second-biggest economy.

COVID-19 cases in the United States totaled 99,829,206 and deaths climbed to 1,087,026, as of Dec. 16, according to Johns Hopkins University. America has the dreaded distinction of incurring the most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any nation. Worldwide COVID-19 deaths hit 6,663,314 people, up about 7,000 since Dec. 13, while total cases reached 652,265,740, Johns Hopkins reported on Dec. 16.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 267,907,969 people, or 80.7% the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as of Dec. 14. People who have completed the primary COVID-19 doses totaled 228,831,995 of the U.S. population, or 68.9%, according to the CDC. The United States also has given a bivalent COVID-19 booster to 44,154,294 people, up more than 4 million people in the past week, who are age 18 and up. The percentage of the U.S. population to receive the bivalent booster now accounts for 16.3% of the 18 and up age group, compared to 15.5% a week ago and 14.7% the week before that.

As for the war in Ukraine, Russia launched at least 76 missiles at different parts of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Sumy, on Friday, Dec. 16, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Russia is continuing its barrage of strikes that began in October that have damaged Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure, causing power outages in amid freezing winter conditions.

The three dividend-paying resort stocks to purchase are mostly immune from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24 and has escalated lately with especially fierce fighting in Bakhmut, a city and the administrative center with a pre-war population of 71,094 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Despite Russia’s leaders calling their continuing shelling and missile firing a “special military operation,” the three dividend-paying resort stocks to purchase cater to well-healed customers who can afford to splurge on travel even though an estimated 100,000 have been killed on each side of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that is showing no signs of abating.