UPDATE: Macquarie Upgrades Hyatt Hotels

Macquarie upgraded Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) from Neutral to Outperform and raised its price target from $65 to $68.

Analysts Chad Beynon and Jeremy Luskin acknowledged "headline macro risks, but believe the growth story – 3-year estimated EBITDA and EPS CAGR of 14 percent and 25 percent, respectively – combined with favorable valuation relative to peers is overly compelling."

Beynon estimated "that Hyatt has between $7–8 billion of asset value in its owned portfolio, versus a market capitalization of $8.7 billion."

The analyst report noted that franchising is a growth opportunity for the company and that Hyatt is entering its highest growth phase in company history.

"The pipeline of 45k rooms is extremely impressive compared to the existing room base of 135k. We expect total Hyatt rooms to grow at a 6-8 percent CAGR during the next three years vs its competitors at 3-5 percent," according to the report.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation recently traded at $58.41, up 2.5 percent.