Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels and Marriott International

Business Wire, July 25, 2007

CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT), Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT) and Marriott International (NYSE: MAR).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog by visiting: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2673

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

$80 Target on Shares of Starwood

We maintain our Buy rating for Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT). We believe that the company's progression towards increased fee-based business will allow Starwood to continue to focus on managing its unique brands, returning value to shareholders, and growing its vacation ownership and ancillary businesses.

Our $80.00 six-month target price for Starwood is based on a multiple of 13x our 2008 EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] estimate. Starwood will report second quarter financial results on August 2, and we will update our model and outlook at that time.

We continue to believe that Starwood deserves a premium valuation, given the company's well-positioned portfolio and its increasing share of the North American travel market. As shown below, the company is currently trading at a slight discount to the average EBITDA multiple currently afforded to Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT) and Marriott International (NYSE: MAR).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog by visiting http://at.zacks.com/?id=2645.

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