Host Hotels&Resorts rises after FFO tops views

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Host Hotels&Resorts Inc. rose more than 6 percent Wednesday after the lodging real estate investment trust's third-quarter funds from operations topped analysts' estimates and it improved some of its 2009 forecasts.

Earlier in the day the Bethesda, Md.-based company reported FFO fell to 11 cents per share from 31 cents per share, but the results beat the average estimate of 8 cents per share of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Funds from operations, a widely used gauge of real estate operating performance, adds depreciation and amortization expenses, as well as other non-operating items, to net income.

Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent was pleased with Host's updated views on 2009 revenue per available room, also known as revpar, and FFO. The REIT now expects a revpar decline of 20 percent to 22 percent. It previously forecast a 20 percent to 23 percent decline. Revpar is a key gauge of a lodging company's performance.

Host also revised its full-year FFO outlook to a range of 46 cents to 51 cents per share from 43 cents to 50 cents per share.

"We view the FFO revision and revpar outlook for the company as a modest positive. We are especially focused on any improvement in revpar expectation as given Host's operating leverage any improvement in top line translates into upside FFO potential," Kent wrote in a client note.

The analyst reiterated a "Neutral" rating and said Host's price target was under review.

The company's stock added 72 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $12 in afternoon trading. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $3.08 to $12.10.