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Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $5.40, moving +1.89% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.46% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.59%.

Heading into today, shares of the hotel owner had gained 15.72% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's gain of 0.89% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.24% in that time.

AHT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect AHT to post earnings of $0.27 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 3.57%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $353.80 million, up 3.39% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.23 per share and revenue of $1.49 billion, which would represent changes of -2.38% and +3.81%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AHT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.97% higher. AHT is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, AHT is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.3. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.36, which means AHT is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that AHT has a PEG ratio of 0.86 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.87 at yesterday's closing price.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 162, which puts it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow AHT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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