Investing.com -- Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) reported third-quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations and lowered its full-year guidance, sending shares down 3.6% in early trading.
The hotel giant posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.26, missing the consensus estimate of $2.31. Revenue came in at $6.26 billion, slightly below the $6.27 billion analysts were expecting.
Marriott lowered its full-year 2024 earnings guidance to a range of $9.19 to $9.27 per share, down from its previous forecast of $9.23 to $9.40. The new outlook falls below the Wall Street consensus of $9.36 per share.
Despite the earnings miss and reduced guidance, Marriott reported solid growth in key metrics. Comparable systemwide constant dollar RevPAR increased 3.0% worldwide compared to the third quarter of 2023, with international markets up 5.4% and U.S. & Canada up 2.1%.
"Marriott had another solid quarter, highlighted by strong net rooms and fee growth, robust development activity and a 3 percent increase in global RevPAR," said Anthony Capuano, President and CEO of Marriott.
The company added approximately 16,000 net rooms during the quarter and expects full-year 2024 net rooms growth to be around 6.5%. Marriott's worldwide development pipeline reached a record 585,000 rooms at the end of September.
Marriott repurchased 4.5 million shares for $1.0 billion in the third quarter. Year-to-date, through October 31, the company has returned $3.9 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.