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H World Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y

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H World Group Limited (HTHT - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2025 results, with earnings and revenues missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top and bottom lines increased on a year-over-year basis.

The company reported a cautious stance to persistent tariff challenges and broader macroeconomic uncertainties. Going forward, it emphasized its asset-light strategy, focusing on high-quality network expansion, strengthened brand positioning, service excellence and enhanced sales capabilities through its H Rewards membership program to drive growth.

HTHT’s Q1 Earnings and Revenues

H World reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 34 cents, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 42 cents by 19.1%. It reported adjusted EPS of 29 cents in the prior-year quarter.

Quarterly revenues of $744 million lagged the consensus mark of $754 million by 1.3%. The metric rose 1.8% from the year-ago quarter’s level of $731 million.

HTHT’s Q1 Operating Results

Selling, General and administrative expenses in the first quarter came in at $104 million compared with $36 million reported in the prior-year quarter.

The company’s operating margin was up 110 basis points year over year to 20.1%. The margin improvement was mainly driven by higher revenue contribution from manachised and franchised businesses.

Adjusted EBITDA was $206 million, up 4.6% from the year-ago reported figure.

Balance Sheet

As of March 31, 2025, H World had cash and cash equivalents of $1.1 billion, compared with $818 million reported in the prior-year quarter.

Long-term debt at the end of the first quarter was $609 million compared with $228 million reported in first-quarter 2024.

Other Business Updates

As of March 31, 2025, H World operated a global network of 11,685 hotels comprising 1,142,158 rooms. This total included 11,564 properties under the Legacy-Huazhu brand and 121 under Legacy-DH. In the first quarter of 2025, the Legacy-Huazhu segment added 694 new hotels — two under the leased and owned model and 692 under the manachised and franchised model — while closing 155 properties, including seven leased and owned and 148 manachised and franchised hotels. H World maintained a robust development pipeline of 2,888 unopened hotels, with 2,865 from Legacy-Huazhu and 23 from Legacy-DH.

HTHT’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

H World currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector are Fox Corporation (FOX - Free Report) , Laureate Education, Inc. (LAUR - Free Report) and Stride, Inc. (LRN - Free Report) .
 
Fox currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
 
The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 30.9%, on average. The stock has inched up 14% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fox’s fiscal 2025 sales and EPS implies growth of 15.3% and 32.4%, respectively, from the year-ago levels.
 
Stride currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 94.7%, on average. The stock has gained 38.4% in the year-to-date period.
 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Stride’s fiscal 2025 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 16.7% and 51.2%, respectively, from the year-ago levels.

Laureate Education presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 56.1%, on average. The stock has moved up 23% in the year-to-date period.
 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Laureate’s 2025 sales and EPS indicates growth of 0.3% and 23.7%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.

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