Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) shares are trading lower on Tuesday after the company reported mixed second-quarter results.
• Hilton Worldwide Holdings shares are under pressure. Why is HLT stock trading lower?
Hilton Quarterly Details
Adjusted EPS of $2.29 came in line with analyst expectations. Revenue reached $3.341 billion, slightly above the $3.327 billion consensus estimate.
Adjusted EBITDA rose to $1.054 billion from $1.008 billion a year ago.
CFO Kevin Jacobs said that quarterly net income and adjusted EBITDA benefited from stronger-than-expected RevPAR growth and $17 million in non-RevPAR-related items that were previously anticipated for the second half of the year.
For the second quarter, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 3.9% year-over-year on a currency-neutral basis, driven by higher occupancy and average daily rate (ADR). Management and franchise fee revenue rose 6.4% Y/Y in the quarter.
CEO Christopher J. Nassetta said the results reflected strong revenue and earnings growth, supported by improving demand trends and broad-based momentum across the company’s global system. He expects these trends to continue through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.
Capital Return & Liquidity
The board also approved another quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, payable on Sept. 30 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 21.
During the second quarter, Hilton repurchased 2.9 million shares for $932 million.
As of June 30, 2026, Hilton had $13.4 billion of total debt outstanding, excluding unamortized deferred financing costs and discounts. Total cash and cash equivalents stood at $1.064 billion, including $55 million of restricted cash.
Key Updates
Hilton approved 42,900 new rooms for development in the second quarter, expanding its development pipeline to 541,300 rooms as of June 30, 2026 (+6% Y/Y).
The company added 24,100 rooms to its system, resulting in 21,600 net additional rooms and 6.1% net unit growth compared with June 30, 2025.
Hilton launched a new lifestyle brand, Undergraduate by Hilton, in June 2026, targeting the upper-midscale college and university market.
Outlook
The company raised its FY26 adjusted EPS guidance to $8.89-$9.01 from the previous range of $8.79-$8.91, compared with the analyst estimate of $9.01.
For full-year, the company expects system-wide comparable RevPAR growth of 3.0%-3.5% on a currency-neutral basis.
Hilton also raised its FY26 adjusted EPS guidance to $8.89-$9.01 from the previous range of $8.79-$8.91. The updated outlook is in line with the analyst estimate of $9.01 per share.
The company projects adjusted EBITDA of $4.040 billion-$4.080 billion, and total capital returns of approximately $3.5 billion.
The company remains confident in achieving 6%-7% net unit growth in 2026 and beyond, with second-half performance projected to exceed the first half.
For the third quarter, Hilton expects adjusted EPS of $2.28-$2.34, below the analyst estimate of $2.42. The company expects comparable RevPAR growth of approximately 4.0% Y/Y on a currency-neutral basis and adjusted EBITDA of $1.035 billion-$1.055 billion.
The third quarter outlook includes expected benefits from the World Cup and favourable calendar shifts. However, the company projects the fourth quarter to face pressure from unfavourable calendar changes and midterm elections.
HLT Stock Price Activity: Hilton Worldwide Holdings shares were down 2.33% at $323.57 at the time of publication on Tuesday.
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