Travel, Hotel Stocks Offer Promising Plays: Manager

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On one of the busiest travel days of the year, Jake Fuller says careful consideration should be used in hotel and travel stock investments.

"We're neutral on the hotel stocks, positive on online travel," the hospitality analyst for Thomas Weisel Partners told CNBC.

He's even making distinctions among the online travel stocks.

"Priceline has been an absolutely phenomenal company over the last couple of years," he said. "They've had tremendous growth, very well managed. At this point, I just see greater upside as I look at Expedia. Online travel is still a growth business...Expedia is the leader."

Fuller even has a couple of hotel stocks he likes, but he's much more cautious there.
"Business trends there have been very strong over the last couple of years, but year-to-date the hotel stocks are down 26 percent," he said. "If you move into a period of slow growth, you will see downward pressure on the valuations for companies like Marriott and Starwood as well."

Symbol
Price
 
Change
%Change
EXPE
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MAR
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BKNG
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WYND
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Fuller thinks Morgans Hotel and Wyndham Worldwide are worth checking into. He's just upgraded Wyndham.

"They tend to be niche plays," he said. "Morgans is a boutique hotel company, with properties in places like New York City, L.A., London, where trends are still very good. Wyndham is oversold. I would argue a value play here, more in the time-share business, where I still think trends are very good."