Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index rises 3.3% in September

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index reported a 3.3-percent increase in September to 2,475 and is up 22.2 percent year-to-date 2012. The index ended 2011 at 2,025.

Robert W. Baird & Company and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index—the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry. The index combines Baird's financial markets expertise, the data processing of STR and the up-to-the-minute distribution capabilities of HotelNewsNow.com, the industry's leading hotel news website.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed both the MSCI REIT (RMZ) (-2.2 percent) and the S&P 500 (+2.4 percent) in September 2012.

"As the third quarter came to a close, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index showed a modest increase as the stocks outperformed the RMZ and S&P for the second month in a row," said Randy Smith, co-founder and chairman at STR. "The hotel industry continues to report solid performance gains, and as we head into the fourth quarter, investors will be able to look back on 2012 as a year of overall improvement in industry fundamentals. While there are still significant economic hurdles ahead, the industry will enter 2013 with relatively low supply growth and improving room rates, which should help overcome some of these issues."

"Hotel stocks outperformed for the second consecutive month as they benefitted from the risk-on trade ahead of the Fed's QE3 announcement," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird. "Industry trends for September came in a bit below expectations due to the calendar shift of the Jewish holidays, but October results have been and should continue to be strong due to favorable comparisons; third-quarter reporting season has begun, and investors are keying on group business trends, which are steadily improving, and 2013 outlooks, which are likely to be in the 5-percent to 7 percent (revenue-per-available-room) growth range."

About the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000, as its starting point. The Index reached its peak of 3,178 on 5 July 2007. The Index's lowest point occurred on 6 March 2009, when it dropped to 573.

The Index is available exclusively on www.hotelstockindex.com and www.HotelNewsNow.com. The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index is a cobranded index created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and Smith Travel Research, Inc. (STR). The market-cap weighted Index is comprised of 15 of the largest market capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempts to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index is maintained by Baird and is hosted on HotelNewsNow.com. The Index is not actively managed and a direct investment cannot be made in it.

The companies that comprise the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index: Choice Hotels International, DiamondRock Hospitality, Hersha Hospitality Trust, Hospitality Properties Trust, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, LaSalle Hotel Properties, Marriott International, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, RLJ Lodging Trust, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Sunstone Hotel Investors and Wyndham Worldwide.

About Baird

Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has more than 2,700 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of nearly $84 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked No. 21 on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2012–its ninth consecutive year on the list. Baird's principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird's private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird's website at www.rwbaird.com.