The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index ended August with a 15.4-percent decrease to 1,807 and is down 23.6 percent year-to-date 2011. The index ended 2010 at 2,364.
The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index ended August with a 15.4-percent decrease to 1,807 and is down 23.6 percent year-to-date 2011. The index ended 2010 at 2,364.
Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index—the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry. The index combines Baird's financial markets expertise, the data processing of STR and the up-to-the-minute distribution capabilities of HotelNewsNow.com, the industry's leading news website.
The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index underperformed the S&P 500 and the RMZ. The S&P ended August with a 5.7-percent decrease, and the RMZ ended the month with a 5.8-percent decrease.
"The volatile market conditions caused growing concern among investors," said Randy Smith, co-founder and chairman of STR. "Though the hotel industry's performance seems to be holding steady, investors are apprehensive to invest and are left wondering what the rest of 2011 has in store. The global economic uncertainty will remain top of mind for investors and travelers for the remainder of the year. "
"At one point in August, the index was down 25.6%, which would have ranked as the third worst monthly result since inception," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird. "However, in the two months with bigger declines, September 2001 and October 2008, the nation was in the midst of crisis and hotel demand was falling rapidly. Today, hotel stocks appear to be pricing in flat RevPAR growth for 2012, which we believe is unrealistic given still-strong hotel fundamentals. Stock market volatility, however, could cause businesses and consumers to reign in travel budgets until there is greater economic clarity, a classic example of the tail wagging the dog."
About the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index
The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1000 on 1 January 2000, as its starting point. The Index reached its peak of 3178 on 5 July 2007. The Index’s lowest point occurred on 6 March 2009, when it dropped to 573.
The Index is available exclusively on www.hotelstockindex.com and www.HotelNewsNow.com. The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index is a co-branded index created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and Smith Travel Research, Inc. (STR). The market-cap weighted Index is comprised of 15 of the largest market capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempts to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index is maintained by Baird and is hosted on HotelNewsNow.com. The Index is not actively managed and a direct investment cannot be made in it.
The current companies that comprise the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index: Ashford Hospitality Trust, Choice Hotels International, DiamondRock Hospitality, FelCor Lodging Trust, Hersha Hospitality Trust, Hospitality Properties Trust, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, LaSalle Hotel Properties, Marriott International, Orient-Express Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Sunstone Hotel Investors and Wyndham Worldwide.
About Baird
Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has more than 2,500 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of nearly $75 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked number 11 on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2010 – its seventh consecutive year on the list. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s Web site at www.rwbaird.com.
About STR
STR provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering North America, Mexico and Caribbean. STR provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR founded the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR Global, RRC Associates, STR Analytics, and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.str.com.
