Little by little, the world eventually crawled out of the COVID cave and into a new era. Those industries hardest hit by the shutdowns started to come back en vogue. It’s led to huge rallies in travel-related stocks like today’s Bull of the Day. These companies spent the year getting leaner and meaner, allowing them to really ring the register when the business came back to normal levels.

Today’s Bull of the Day is Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) Marriott ((MAR Quick QuoteMAR - Free Report) ). Marriott International, Inc. operates, franchises, and licenses hotel, residential, timeshare, and other lodging properties worldwide. The company operates through U.S. and Canada, and international segments. It operates properties under 30 brand names in 138 countries and territories.

Marriott enjoys a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The reason for the favorable Zacks Rank is the recent jump in earnings estimates for the current year and next year. Over the last thirty days alone, ten analysts have increased their numbers for the current year while eight have followed suit for next year. The bullish moves have pushed up our Zacks Consensus Estimates for the current year from $7.70 to $8.33 while next year’s number is up from $8.47 to $8.98.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

This came on the heels of yet another earnings surprise. Last quarter’s report came in 23 cents or 12.37% better than expectations at $2.09 per share. That was the third quarterly beat in the last year, beating by an average of 8.03%. These surprises as well as the recent upwards earnings estimate revisions are helping to underpin the rally in the stock.