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Choice Hotels International (CHH)
NYSE:CHH
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Choice Hotels (CHH) AI Stock Analysis

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CHH

Choice Hotels

(NYSE:CHH)

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Neutral 58 (OpenAI - 5.2)
Rating:58Neutral
Price Target:
$103.00
â–¼(-13.58% Downside)
Action:ReiteratedDate:05/01/26
The score is driven mainly by solid underlying operating performance and constructive guidance/capital return plans, but is held back by high leverage and weak technical trend (trading below key moving averages). Valuation is reasonable and provides modest support.
Positive Factors
Asset-light franchise business model
An asset-light, franchise-focused model creates durable recurring revenue via royalties and fees while keeping capital intensity low. This structure scales with room growth, reduces fixed-cost leverage, and preserves margins across cycles, supporting predictable cash flow over multi-quarter horizons.
Negative Factors
High leverage and thin equity cushion
Elevated leverage and a historically thin equity base materially constrain financial flexibility. In a downturn or with rising rates, interest and covenant pressure could limit reinvestment, slow deleveraging, and increase refinancing risk, outweighing operational strengths over multiple quarters.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Asset-light franchise business model
An asset-light, franchise-focused model creates durable recurring revenue via royalties and fees while keeping capital intensity low. This structure scales with room growth, reduces fixed-cost leverage, and preserves margins across cycles, supporting predictable cash flow over multi-quarter horizons.
Read all positive factors

Choice Hotels (CHH) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)

Choice Hotels Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description
Choice Hotels International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a hotel franchisor worldwide. The company operates in Hotel Franchising and Corporate & Other segments. It franchises lodging properties under the brand names of Comfor...
How the Company Makes Money
Choice Hotels primarily makes money through an asset-light, franchise-focused model where most properties are owned and operated by independent hotel owners (franchisees) rather than by Choice. The company’s key revenue streams generally include: ...

Choice Hotels Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Any
Any
Average Daily Rate Breakdown
Average Daily Rate Breakdown
Reveals the average income earned per occupied room, providing insight into pricing strategy effectiveness and market positioning.
Chart InsightsAverage daily rates show a stable, seasonal pattern, but the important callout is the secular uplift in extended-stay ADRs and sustained strength in upscale ADRs—evidence the portfolio is shifting toward higher-revenue, stickier demand. That mix shift underpins rising royalty rates and makes earnings less sensitive to occupancy swings, even as management expects near-term RevPAR headwinds into Q1. Midscale/economy ADRs remain more cyclical, so upside depends on conversions and international strength to offset temporary U.S. occupancy weakness.
Data provided by:The Fly

Choice Hotels Earnings Call Summary

Earnings Call Date:Apr 30, 2026
(Q1-2026)
|
% Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Aug 12, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call balanced near-term headwinds with a constructive multi-quarter operational improvement story. Near-term financials showed lower adjusted EBITDA and EPS and RevPAR distortion from last year’s hurricanes, causing investor pushback. However, underlying metrics — accelerating conversion-led room growth, a higher-quality and accretive pipeline, improving unit economics (royalty expansion, loyalty momentum), AI-driven franchisee benefits, materially lower capital intensity, and a clear share-repurchase plan — indicate durable improvement in earnings quality and cash generation. Management maintained full-year guidance and provided visibility into capital returns and free cash flow targets.
Positive Updates
Inflection in Rooms Growth and Conversion Momentum
Global rooms grew 1.7% year over year with U.S. gross openings up 32% YoY and nearly 6,000 U.S. gross rooms opened in the quarter. U.S. conversion room openings rose ~59% YoY (C-suite commentary) and U.S. conversion franchise agreements increased 63% YoY (CFO), with the U.S. conversion pipeline up 17% YoY and ~60% of quarter franchise agreements expected to open this year.
Negative Updates
Quarterly Profitability and EPS Declines
Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $126 million from $130 million a year ago, and adjusted EPS fell to $1.07 from $1.34 YoY. Management attributes the EBITDA decline to timing of certain SG&A costs and EPS decline partly to a temporary tax-rate adjustment.
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Q1-2026 Updates
Negative
Inflection in Rooms Growth and Conversion Momentum
Global rooms grew 1.7% year over year with U.S. gross openings up 32% YoY and nearly 6,000 U.S. gross rooms opened in the quarter. U.S. conversion room openings rose ~59% YoY (C-suite commentary) and U.S. conversion franchise agreements increased 63% YoY (CFO), with the U.S. conversion pipeline up 17% YoY and ~60% of quarter franchise agreements expected to open this year.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Choice maintained full‑year 2026 guidance, reiterating adjusted EBITDA of $632–$647 million and adjusted diluted EPS of $6.92–$7.14, while guiding net capital outlays of roughly $20–$45 million for the year (about 70% lower at the midpoint vs. 2025) and announcing a planned $175–$225 million of share repurchases in 2026. Management targets 60–65% free cash flow conversion (excluding franchise agreement acquisition costs) over the next several years, expects adjusted SG&A and partnership revenues to grow in the mid‑single digits, and finished Q1 with $474 million of liquidity and net leverage of 3.2x adjusted EBITDA (target range 3.0–4.0x). Underpinning the outlook were Q1 operating metrics — revenues ex‑reimbursables $217M, adjusted EBITDA $126M, adjusted EPS $1.07, partnership revenues $24.7M — and operating trends including global rooms growth 1.7% YoY, global franchise agreements awarded up ~72% YoY, U.S. conversion activity (expected to account for >80% of openings), U.S. average royalty rate up 11 bps, Q1 proceeds of ≈$25M, and a 51% YoY reduction in development outlays; management said these trends (U.S. RevPAR ex‑hurricane +1.8% YoY; international RevPAR +2.6% currency‑neutral) support the maintained guidance and the potential to trend toward the high end of the range if macro conditions remain constructive.

Choice Hotels Financial Statement Overview

Summary
Operating performance is solid (income statement strength and improving TTM free cash flow), but this is meaningfully offset by a highly leveraged balance sheet and thin equity cushion that reduces flexibility and raises downside risk.
Income Statement
78
Positive
Balance Sheet
34
Negative
Cash Flow
63
Positive
BreakdownTTMDec 2025Dec 2024Dec 2023Dec 2022Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue1.60B1.60B1.58B1.54B1.40B1.07B
Gross Profit714.35M653.86M744.17M690.28M700.05M599.60M
EBITDA621.32M659.27M553.64M440.39M544.52M473.67M
Net Income345.72M369.95M299.67M258.51M332.15M288.96M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets2.94B2.92B2.53B2.39B2.10B1.93B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments43.87M45.00M40.18M26.75M41.57M511.61M
Total Debt2.11B2.13B1.89B1.68B1.29B1.11B
Total Liabilities2.81B2.74B2.58B2.36B1.95B1.67B
Stockholders Equity137.43M181.23M-45.27M35.60M154.66M265.88M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow262.75M124.65M173.55M178.26M277.11M305.83M
Operating Cash Flow226.81M270.45M319.40M296.55M367.06M383.70M
Investing Cash Flow-171.49M-218.26M-84.57M-265.63M-442.43M-78.93M
Financing Cash Flow-54.03M-50.10M-221.71M-45.94M-394.15M-27.72M

Choice Hotels Technical Analysis

Technical Analysis Sentiment
Positive
Last Price119.19
Price Trends
50DMA
105.26
Positive
100DMA
101.24
Positive
200DMA
106.69
Positive
Market Momentum
MACD
4.34
Negative
RSI
73.91
Negative
STOCH
87.75
Negative
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For CHH, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 119.19 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 106.77, above the 50-day MA of 105.26, and above the 200-day MA of 106.69, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 4.34 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 73.91 is Negative, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 87.75 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for CHH.

Choice Hotels Risk Analysis

Choice Hotels disclosed 33 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Choice Hotels reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks

Choice Hotels Peers Comparison

Overall Rating
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (61)
Financial Indicators
Name
Overall Rating
Market Cap
P/E Ratio
ROE
Dividend Yield
Revenue Growth
EPS Growth
71
Outperform
$21.62B28.95-23.50%1.21%5.59%26.44%
70
Outperform
$5.22B20.0846.59%1.76%35.38%26.91%
65
Neutral
$15.43B20.4542.78%3.60%6.11%73.30%
63
Neutral
$15.41B89.40-1.50%0.36%7.74%-104.45%
61
Neutral
$18.38B12.79-2.54%3.03%1.52%-15.83%
59
Neutral
$6.07B25.1037.33%2.13%1.41%-40.51%
58
Neutral
$4.61B58.81614.45%1.32%1.18%12.87%
* Consumer Cyclical Sector Average
Performance Comparison
Ticker
Company Name
Price
Change
% Change
CHH
Choice Hotels
100.70
-24.87
-19.81%
HTHT
H World Group
50.92
15.50
43.75%
H
Hyatt Hotels
163.73
42.02
34.52%
IHG
Intercontinental Hotels Group
142.94
30.41
27.03%
WH
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
80.84
-1.55
-1.88%
ATAT
Atour Lifestyle Holdings
37.97
13.40
54.54%

Choice Hotels Corporate Events

Executive/Board Changes
Choice Hotels Announces Retirement of Senior Legal Executive
Neutral
Feb 20, 2026
On February 20, 2026, Choice Hotels International, Inc. announced that Simone Wu, its Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and head of External Affairs, plans to retire from her role in the first half of 2026. She will remai...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Disclaimer

This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.Date of analysis: May 01, 2026