What happened
Shares of Belmond Ltd. (BEL) jumped as much as 44.9% in trading Thursday after the hotel owner reported second-quarter 2018 results. At 12:40 p.m. EDT, the stock was still trading 39% higher on the day.
So what
Revenue was up 3.4% to $171.6 million and net loss improved from $4.9 million to $1.5 million last quarter, or $0.02 per share. Adjusted earnings, which pull out one-time items, like a $7.1 million noncash impairment, were $0.19 per share.
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Analysts were only expecting $0.15 per share in earnings, so Belmond beat estimates by a wide margin. It was also positive that revenue per available room (RevPAR) for owned hotels was up 5% versus a year ago, althoughRevPAR was flat on a constant currency basis.
Now what
Belmond continues to grow its business and expand margins in the process. Management said it was slightly disappointed with the flat RevPAR results but adjusted EBITDA was up 6% on a constant currency basis to $51.4 million as margins expanded. As long as the economy keeps performing well, hotel and vacation stocks like Belmond look poised to do well.
