Investors are watching next week’s earnings reports from hotels, cruise lines and other businesses that have been hard hit by COVID-19 for indications of which companies could be the first to bounce back when the pandemic recedes.
For nearly a year, money managers have largely looked past earnings in the travel and leisure sector, where coronavirus-fueled lockdowns and travel restrictions battered companies’ businesses and crushed their stock prices: shares of Marriott and Norwegian Cruise Lines, for example, are down 12% or more in the last year, compared to a nearly 17% gain for the S&P 500 through Friday afternoon.
Next week’s numbers however,
“The results across the board are going to be bad, but it’s really going to be about who is coming back,” said Adam Trivison, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds.
The focus on travel and leisure companies comes as investors more broadly gauge the effectiveness of the U.S. vaccination effort and the degree to which it will help the economy get back on track.
-REUTERS