Topic: Growth Stocks

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $70.50 – New York symbol WYN

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $70.50 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 128.1 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,440 franchised hotels worldwide.

Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has over 106,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the hotel and resort operator’s revenue rose 9.2%, to $1.20 billion from $1.09 billion a year earlier. Wyndham gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up the company’s occupancy rate by 1.9%.

Before one-time items, earnings rose 15.6%, to $0.74 a share from $0.64. Wyndham continues to buy back its stock. In the latest quarter, it repurchased 1.8 million shares for $115 million. In all of 2013, it bought back 9.7 million shares for $590 million.

High goodwill is a concern

The company has just increased its quarterly dividend by 20.7%, to $0.35 a share from $0.29. The stock now yields 2.0%.

However, the company continues to grow quickly, including acquiring vacation resorts and adding new hotels. Wyndham’s goodwill and intangibles now stand at $2.7 billion, or 30% of its market cap. That leaves it vulnerable to writedowns if demand for vacation travel turns down suddenly.

Wyndham is a hold.

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