Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. HST is scheduled to release first-quarter 2026 earnings results on May 6, after market close. The company’s quarterly results are likely to display a year-over-year rise in revenues and a decline in adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share.
In the previous quarter, this Bethesda, MD-based lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) reported an AFFO per share of 51 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents. Results reflected higher revenues, driven by year-over-year comparable hotel RevPAR growth.
Over the trailing four quarters, Host Hotels’ AFFO per share surpassed estimates on all occasions, the average surprise being 10.65%. The graph below depicts this surprise history:
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Quote
Factors to Consider Ahead of HST’s Upcoming Results
Host Hotels & Resorts benefits from a portfolio of luxury and upper-upscale hotels across key U.S. markets, including gateway cities and resort destinations. The company’s properties are strategically positioned in high-demand locations, which continue to support steady room pricing.
The continued recovery in group demand, along with stable transient and leisure travel, is likely to have supported revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in the to-be-reported quarter. Strength in group banquet and catering activity, coupled with improving room rates, is expected to have remained a key driver of top-line performance.
Host Hotels’ disciplined capital allocation strategy and ongoing reinvestment in its portfolio are likely to have enhanced asset quality and strengthened its competitive positioning. This, along with rate-led growth, is expected to have aided EBITDA growth and modest margin expansion, even in a rising cost environment.
However, elevated interest expenses are expected to have acted as a headwind impacting the bottom-line growth during the quarter.
Q1 Estimates for HST
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HST’s quarterly revenues is presently pegged at $1.63 billion, implying growth of 2.32% from the prior-year period’s reported figure.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly RevPAR is pinned at $246.66, indicating an increase from $240.18 reported in the year-ago quarter.
However, the consensus mark for the average occupancy rate in the first quarter is pegged at 68.99%, implying a decrease from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure of 69.4%.
We expect first-quarter 2026 interest expenses to rise 4.3% year over year.
The company’s activities during the to-be-reported quarter were adequate to garner analysts’ confidence. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFFO per share has moved northward to 63 cents over the past week. However, the figure implies a 1.56% decline from the year-ago reported number.
What Our Quantitative Model Predicts for HST
Our proven model predicts a likely surprise in terms of AFFO per share for Host Hotels this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an AFFO beat, which is the case here.
Host Hotels currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.98% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Other Stocks That Warrant a Look
Here are two other stocks from the retail REIT industry — Realty Income O and Simon Property Group SPG — that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these also have the right combination of elements to report a surprise this quarter.
Realty Income is slated to report quarterly numbers on May 6. O has an Earnings ESP of +0.60% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Simon Property Group is slated to report quarterly numbers on May 11. SPG has an Earnings ESP of +0.78% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).