Hyatt Hotels Corporation (H) Fell Due to Uncertain Macroeconomic Environment

Soumya Eswaran

Thu, May 8, 2025, 5:57 AM 3 min read

Baron Funds, an investment management firm, released its “Focused Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Q1 was a difficult start to the year. The fund declined 7.95% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s (the Benchmark) 10.80% return. Please spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know more about their top bets for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Focused Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H). Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) is a hospitality company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The one-month return of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) was -10.45%, and its shares lost 18.66% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 7, 2025, Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) stock closed at $123.85 per share with a market capitalization of $11.822 billion.

Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Shares of global hotelier Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) detracted as Trump’s tariff policies generated heightened uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment. While the volatility during the first quarter is a concern, we believe it will be short term. Business fundamentals were strong, with solid forward bookings numbers as the business transient segment continued its post-pandemic recovery and the group business segment paced up by mid-single-digits. We expect double-digit EBITDA growth in 2025. The company has a strong balance sheet. The planned acquisition of Playa Hotels should be accretive to earnings, especially after Hyatt sells the underlying real estate properties. Once the sale is complete, over 90% of revenue will be fee-based, which should help close Hyatt’s multiple discount to peers."

A large hotel room with touches of luxury and hospitality in every corner.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 22 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.