Global hospitality company Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026 as sales rose 4.8% year on year to $7.07 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.19 per share was 3.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Marriott (MAR) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $7.07 billion vs analyst estimates of $7.21 billion (4.8% year-on-year growth, 2% miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $3.19 vs analyst estimates of $3.08 (3.6% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $1.59 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.55 billion (22.5% margin, 2.6% beat)
- Management raised its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $11.73 at the midpoint, a 1.9% increase
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $6.00 billion at the midpoint, in line with analyst expectations
- Operating Margin: 17.4%, in line with the same quarter last year
- RevPAR: $150.10 at quarter end, up 5.1% year on year
- Market Capitalization: $98.31 billion
Company Overview
Founded by J. Willard Marriott in 1927, Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) is a global hospitality company with a portfolio of over 7,000 properties and 30 brands, spanning 130+ countries and territories.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, Marriott grew its sales at a 22.2% annual rate. Though this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, we need to see more than just topline growth for the consumer discretionary sector, which can display significant earnings volatility. This means our bar for the sector is particularly high, reflecting the non-essential and hit-driven nature of the products and services offered. Additionally, five-year CAGR starts around Covid, when revenue was depressed then rebounded.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new property or trend. Marriott’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 4.9% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. 
We can better understand the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its revenue per available room, which clocked in at $150.10 this quarter and is a key metric accounting for daily rates and occupancy levels. Over the last two years, Marriott’s revenue per room averaged 1.7% year-on-year growth, which is quite underwhelming. Because this number is lower than its revenue growth, we can see its sales from other areas like restaurants, bars, and amenities outperformed its room bookings. It is sometimes the strategy of hotels to grow ancillary revenues because they are price takers in room revenues. 
This quarter, Marriott’s revenue grew by 4.8% year on year to $7.07 billion, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 7.4% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average.
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Operating Margin
Marriott’s operating margin has generally stayed the same over the last 12 months, and we generally like to see margin increases due to economies of scale and cost efficiency over time.
In Q2, Marriott generated an operating margin profit margin of 17.4%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Marriott’s EPS grew at 59.3% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 22.2% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
In Q2, Marriott reported adjusted EPS of $3.19, up from $2.65 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 3.6%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Marriott’s full-year EPS to grow 12% from $10.96 to $12.28.
Key Takeaways from Marriott’s Q2 Results
It was good to see Marriott beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its revenue missed and its EBITDA guidance for next quarter fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock traded down 3.1% to $361.43 immediately after reporting.
Big picture, is Marriott a buy here and now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
