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Better-than-expected earnings helped push Wyndham Worldwide Corporation's shares higher, but this still wasn't a blowout quarter.
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Shares of hotel brand Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (WYN +0.01%) jumped as much as 11.1% in trading Wednesday after reporting first-quarter 2017 earnings. At 3:45 p.m. EDT on Wall Street, shares were still up an impressive 9.6% on the day.
Revenue for the quarter rose just 1% to $1.32 billion, but net income rose 47% from a year ago to $141 million, or $1.33 per share. Adjusted for one-time items, earnings were $1.14 per share, beating Wall Street's estimate by three cents.
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Management also said it still expects full-year revenue of $5.80 billion to $5.95 billion and adjusted earnings of $5.98 to $6.18 per share, based on 105.5 million shares outstanding.
First-quarter results don't show tremendous growth, but margins are improving slightly, and that's what had investors pushing shares higher. Keep in mind that growth is still in the low single-digits, and it isn't expected to pick up significantly soon. With shares trading at 18 times trailing earnings, shares are pretty expensive for a slow-growth stock. For that reason, I'll sit out today's pop, but look for opportunities if shares dip to get in at a better value for this hotel industry leader.