Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (BEE) continues to move up, and we are now closing in on our first “Profit-Protect” interval on BEE shares. To quickly recap, I announced a strategic buy-signal on Strategic Hotels & Resorts in September 2009 at the $2 level, and, during today’s trading, BEE posted a fresh 52-week high of $5.89 per share – representing an upward price-move of approximately 194% in just 7 months. Our stock-trading discipline mandates that we take “partial gains” off the table on extended upward share-price runs – and we do plan on announcing a Profit-Protect point on Strategic Hotels & Resorts. Yet, at this moment, there’s really no great urgency to protect BEE gains as the Real Estate Investment Trust continues to set new 52-week highs on seemingly a daily basis. The key question is – how high can BEE go before we begin to see some profit-taking by the big Wall Street firms?  

As we attempt to answer that all-important question, let’s take a quick look at the company’s recent share-price performance. Strategic Hotels & Resorts is now up 200% since the start of the year and up more than 515% over the last twelve months. The Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) owns and operates a global chain of upscale and luxury hotels that operate under the Fairmont, Four Seasons, Hyatt, and Westin brands, among others. Compared to the broader financial sector, as represented by the Financial Select Sector (NYSE:XLF), BEE’s recent performance has been nothing short of astounding – as the financials as a group have managed just a 14% gain since the start of the year.    

Also noteworthy, over the last 5 years, Strategic Hotels & Resorts has grown sales at a rate of around 12 percent – enabling the company to garner a solid institutional following. In fact, nearly 60% of BEE shares are now owned by institutions, and the company’s shares are currently trading at a low price to sales ratio of 0.49. We see BEE shares moving incrementally higher in the near-term in tandem with the broader market indexes. Nevertheless, we will be looking for an opportunity to take partial gains off the table, so stand closely by for our pending Profit-Protect interval on BEE shares.

<< HOME PAGE | ARCHIVES >>