Host Hotels & Resorts Inc on Wednesday reported its second-quarter result but reduced its guidance for the rest of the year to reflect increasing weakness in its transient and group business. Host Hotels shares jumped 92 cents, or 8 percent, to close at $12.52 on a day that the broader market got a boost from a drop in oil prices. The real estate investment trust’s stock has lost roughly half its value from its 52-week high of $24.87 last July.

Funds from operations rose to 56 cents per share for the three months ended June 13. In the year-ago period, Host reported FFO of 48 cents per share, including costs of 8 cents per share associated with debt refinancing. Host Hotels President and Chief Executive, W. Edward Walter, in a conference call with analysts said “In analyzing what was happening in our business over the last three periods, and especially the last 6 to 8 weeks, it has become clear that the various pressure points of the overall economy are combining to depress lodging demand,”

The company now forecasts funds from operations between 27 cents to 29 cents per share for the third quarter and $1.75 to $1.85 per share for the full year. The company previously forecast full-year FFO between $1.88 and $1.98 per share.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Hotel. Tags: Conference Call oil prices real estate investment trust W. Edward Walter . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.