09:03 AM EST, 11/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Marriott International ( MAR ) slashed its full-year bottom-line outlook on Monday as the hotel giant's third-quarter earnings fell short of market estimates.

The company now expects adjusted earnings to be in a range of $9.19 to $9.27 per share for 2024, down from its previous guidance of $9.23 to $9.40. The current consensus on Capital IQ is for normalized EPS of $9.36. The stock was down 2% in premarket activity.

Marriott ( MAR ) continues to project systemwide revenue per available room, or revPAR, growth of 3% to 4% for the ongoing year. Gross fee revenue is pegged at $5.13 billion to $5.15 billion, reflecting a lower top end from the prior forecast of $5.18 billion. Net rooms growth is estimated at about 6.5%, up from the previous outlook for a gain of 5.5% to 6%.

For the September quarter, the hospitality company's adjusted EPS increased 7% year over year to $2.26, but trailed analysts' $2.31 estimate. Overall revenue rose to $6.26 billion from $5.93 billion in the prior-year period, largely in line with the Street's view.

RevPAR inclined 3% worldwide during the quarter, led by a 5.4% increase in international markets. Europe experienced the largest year-over-year increase at about 9.5%. US and Canada revPAR rose 2.1%, while China fell 7.9%.

"Group remained the standout customer segment, with global group revPAR rising 10% in the quarter and on pace to rise 8% for full-year 2024," Chief Executive Anthony Capuano said in a statement. "RevPAR for the business transient segment continued to grow nicely in the quarter, while leisure transient RevPAR was flat year over year, but still well ahead of pre-pandemic levels."

Marriott ( MAR ) added roughly 16,000 rooms during the quarter. At the end of the period, the company's global system totaled almost 9,100 properties with roughly 1.68 million rooms. "Given the breadth and depth of our portfolio and the meaningful benefits we deliver to owners and franchisees, demand for our brands remains strong," according to Capuano.

For the ongoing quarter, the company anticipates adjusted EPS to come in between $2.31 and $2.39, while the Street is looking for $2.43. Worldwide revPAR growth is seen at 2% to 3% on an annual basis. It also expects gross fee revenue of $1.29 billion to $1.31 billion.

"We have undertaken a comprehensive initiative to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency across the company," Capuano said. "At this point in the process, we expect this initiative to yield $80 million to $90 million of annual general and administrative cost reductions beginning in 2025."

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