Marriott matches earnings expectations, updates profit forecast
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Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) met Wall Streetâs expectations for the third quarter while narrowing full year EPS forecasts on Thursday.

For the third quarter, results came essentially in-line with analyst expectations, aided by a recovery in international markets. Meanwhile, comparable systemwide constant dollar RevPAR increased 1.8% globally.

"In the U.S. & Canada, our largest region, RevPAR exceeded 2019 levels by 3.5% in the third quarter. Occupancy in the region has been rising throughout the year, reaching 72% in September, just 2 percentage points below the same month in 2019,â CEO Anthony Capuano noted. âLeisure transient demand remained very robust, and group RevPAR more than fully recovered to 2019 levels in the quarter. Business transient demand, though still lagging in recovery, continued to improve.â

He added that the EMEA and Caribbean and Latin American regions showed the strongest growth over 2019 levels, boosted by a stronger dollar and increased cross-border travel as restrictions roll off. Capuano also noted that the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program reached 173M members in the quarter. 

"While we are carefully monitoring macroeconomic trends, bookings across all our customer segments remain strong, contributing to the ongoing momentum in our business,â Capuano concluded. âWe expect continued demand growth around the world in the fourth quarter and anticipate that global RevPAR could increase 2 percent to 4 percent compared to 2019.â

Management now sees full-year EPS at $6.51 to $6.58, narrowed from a prior range of $6.33 to $6.59. Analysts had anticipated $6.47. Additionally, the buyback program was updated with Capuano highlighting plans to return more than $2.7B to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases by the close of the year.
Dig into the details of the quarter.