Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) stock traded higher Monday after the hotel operator reported third-quarter 2026 results that topped Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year earnings outlook.
Revenue rose 8% year over year to $7.005 billion, beating the $6.920 billion analyst estimate, while adjusted diluted EPS increased 22% to $3.02 from $2.47, beating the $2.84 estimate.
President and CEO Anthony Capuano said the quarter reflected “continued momentum across our business, the benefits of our global scale, and the power of our brands and revenue engines.”
Reported net income rose 9% to $794 million, while adjusted net income increased to $790 million from $674 million. Reported diluted EPS rose to $3.04 from $2.67.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 12% to $1.512 billion, and adjusted operating margin improved to 66% from 65%.
RevPAR Growth Drives Hotel Performance
Worldwide RevPAR increased 6.5%, supported by higher average daily rates and occupancy.
U.S. and Canada RevPAR rose 7.4%, while international RevPAR increased 4.4%. U.S. and Canada systemwide occupancy was 73.9%, with average daily rate at $197.93.
Capuano said U.S. and Canada growth was broad-based across customer segments and chain scales.
Internationally, Asia Pacific excluding China led growth, while the Middle East conflict continued to weigh on regional results, though trends improved from the second quarter.
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Fee Growth And Development Momentum
Franchise and base management fees rose 13% to $1.341 billion, driven primarily by higher co-branded credit card fees, higher RevPAR, and rooms growth.
Incentive management fees increased 22% to $181 million, with all regions posting year-over-year growth.
Marriott added roughly 20,100 net rooms during the quarter, including more than 13,400 internationally, bringing its system to more than 10,200 properties and nearly 1.834 million rooms.
Its pipeline reached a record 4,209 properties and more than 634,000 rooms, with 44% of pipeline rooms under construction.
Conversions accounted for more than one-third of signings and over 40% of openings in the first nine months. Marriott Bonvoy membership reached about 309 million at quarter-end.
Balance Sheet And Shareholder Returns
Marriott ended the quarter with $500 million in cash and equivalents and $16.8 billion of debt.
The company issued $1.25 billion of senior notes and refinanced its credit facility, extending maturity to September 2031 and increasing capacity to $5.0 billion from $4.5 billion.
The company repurchased 3.5 million shares for $1.3 billion in the quarter and had returned about $4.0 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks through Oct. 28.
Guidance Moves Higher
For the fourth quarter, Marriott expects adjusted diluted EPS of $3.14-$3.21, above the $3.02 estimate.
It raised full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $12.07-$12.14 from $11.64-$11.81, above the $11.73 estimate.
Marriott also raised its 2026 global RevPAR growth outlook to 4.5%-5.0%, citing strong third-quarter performance and expectations for continued healthy demand.
The outlook assumes continuation of the current macroeconomic environment.
MAR Price Action: Marriott International shares were up 3.43% at $413.00 during premarket trading on Monday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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