Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. · HLT · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026

Hilton Beats Q1 RevPAR Estimates, Raises Full-Year Guidance on Broad Demand

Hilton entered FY2026 with stronger-than-expected demand across business, leisure, and group segments, posting 3.6% system-wide RevPAR growth that exceeded the top end of prior guidance. Adjusted EBITDA rose 13% to $901 million, and management raised full-year RevPAR guidance from 1-2% to 2-3%. The company opened 131 hotels in the quarter and grew its development pipeline to a record 527,000 rooms, roughly 20% of all hotel rooms under construction globally. AI initiatives moved from exploratory to concrete with the launch of the Anthropic-powered Hilton AI Planner for guest trip planning. Capital returns of $860 million in Q1 keep Hilton on pace for $3.5 billion in buybacks and dividends for the year. The market initially sold off — a 2.25% abnormal decline on report day against a 0.49% benchmark dip — but the stock subsequently drifted +4.13%, suggesting the initial reaction…

Reported Before market openNYSEConsumer Cyclical $73.40B market cap
100quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., a hospitality company, engages in managing, franchising, and leasing hotels and resorts. It operates in two segments, Management and Franchise, and Ownership. The company engages in the hotel management and licensing of its brand names, trademarks, and service marks. It operates a brand portfolio of luxury, lifestyle, full service, focused service, all-suites hotel, and timeshare under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Signia by Hilton, NoMad, Canopy by Hilton, Graduate by Hilton, Tempo by Hilton, Motto by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree…

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $2.01 Consensus $2
EPS surprise +1.5% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $2.94B Consensus $2.95B
Revenue surprise -0.4% Reported versus consensus

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
HLT EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $1.56 Q4 '23 actual $1.68, beat Q1 '24 estimate $1.41 Q1 '24 actual $1.53, beat Q2 '24 estimate $1.86 Q2 '24 actual $1.91, beat Q3 '24 estimate $1.84 Q3 '24 actual $1.92, beat Q2 '25 estimate $2.05 Q2 '25 actual $2.20, beat Q3 '25 estimate $2.06 Q3 '25 actual $2.11, beat Q4 '25 estimate $2.02 Q4 '25 actual $2.08, beat Q1 '26 estimate $1.98 Q1 '26 actual $2.01, beat Q2 '26 estimate $2.27 Q2 '26 actual $2.29, beat Q3 '26 estimate $2.43 Q4 '26 estimate $2.28 Q1 '27 estimate $2.17 Q2 '27 estimate $2.72
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy49 ratings
Bullish2857.1%
Neutral2142.9%
Bearish00.0%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$320.16Current
$135Low
$268.46Average
$379High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Jul 29, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 21, 2026
Evercore ISI Group Outperform In LineUpgradeJul 21, 2026
Barclays Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 21, 2026
Morgan Stanley Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 17, 2026
Wells Fargo Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 16, 2026
Macquarie Neutral NeutralMaintainJul 14, 2026
Bernstein Market Perform Market PerformMaintainMay 15, 2026
UBS Buy BuyMaintainApr 30, 2026
Show 41 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $320.16. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
BarclaysBrandt Montour$367$321.32 +14.6%Jul 20, 2026
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$379$328.48 +18.4%Jul 16, 2026
BernsteinRichard Clarke$320$316.56 -0.0%May 15, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$319$315.92 -0.4%May 12, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$371$323.98 +15.9%Apr 30, 2026
Truist FinancialAnalyst unavailable$312$315.74 -2.5%Apr 29, 2026
SusquehannaAnalyst unavailable$353$323.34 +10.3%Apr 29, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$365$323.34 +14.0%Apr 29, 2026
Evercore ISIAnalyst unavailable$350$335.07 +9.3%Apr 24, 2026
SusquehannaAnalyst unavailable$345$333.67 +7.8%Apr 23, 2026
See 65 more

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Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -2.7% Event window
SPY move -0.5% Same window
Abnormal move -2.2% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.9× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +4.1% Up to 20 sessions
HLTSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared to Q4 2025, where full-year 2026 RevPAR guidance was set at 1-2%, Q1 results came in above the top end of that range, prompting management to raise the full-year RevPAR outlook to 2-3%. The development pipeline grew from over 520,000 rooms to a record 527,000 rooms. AI partnerships expanded from exploratory collaborations (OpenAI, Google, Jet) to a concrete product launch: the Anthropic-powered Hilton AI Planner. The prior quarter's planned brand launches — Apartment Collection and Outset Collection — are now rolling out, and new Waldorf Astoria openings in Morocco, London, and Malaysia extend the luxury footprint. Middle East conflict, noted as a risk factor in Q4, is now explicitly incorporated into guidance scenarios.

Guidance delta

Full-year 2026 system-wide RevPAR guidance raised from 1-2% to 2-3%, with management noting a range of scenarios around Middle East conflict impact. Net unit growth target of 6-7% reaffirmed. Capital return target of $3.5 billion for 2026 reaffirmed, with $860 million already returned in Q1. Prior-quarter adjusted EBITDA guidance of $4.0-$4.04 billion and EPS of $8.65-$8.77 were set in Q4 2025; management did not revise these in the Q1 transcript analysis.

Key takeaways

  • Q1 system-wide RevPAR grew 3.6% YoY, beating the top end of prior guidance and driving adjusted EBITDA up 13% to $901 million.
  • 131 new hotels opened in the quarter, with luxury and lifestyle brands accounting for 20% of openings.
  • Full-year RevPAR guidance raised from 1-2% to 2-3%, with scenarios factoring in Middle East conflict impact.
  • Capital returns of $860 million in Q1, on track for $3.5 billion in buybacks and dividends for the full year.
  • Record development pipeline of 527,000 rooms, representing approximately 20% of global hotel rooms under construction.

Management priorities

  • Continue aggressive hotel openings, especially in luxury and lifestyle brands.
  • Roll out the Hilton AI Planner and deepen AI partnerships with Google, ChatGPT, and Anthropic.
  • Pursue new brand signings (Motto, Tapestry) and expand in emerging markets including India and APAC.
  • Maintain a capital-light, fee-based business model while increasing shareholder returns.
  • Target 6-7% net unit growth for the full year.

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-29T11:31:30.222493+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-29T11:31:30.218495+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.