WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $59.05 - New York symbol WYN

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $59.05 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 140.3 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,340 franchised hotels worldwide.

In addition to hotels, Wyndham manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has 100,000 vacation rental properties worldwide.

In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Wyndham’s revenue rose 9.4%, to $1.09 billion from $1.0 billion a year earlier. The company gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up Wyndham’s occupancy rate by 2.6%.

Before one-time items, earnings rose 34.0%, to $0.63 a share from $0.47. The company continues to buy back its stock. In the latest quarter, it repurchased 2.9 million shares for $151 million. In all of 2012, it bought back 12.9 million shares for $623 million.

The company has increased its quarterly dividend by 26.1%, to $0.29 a share from $0.23. The shares now yield 1.6%.

Wyndham’s stock continues to hit all-time highs. Its outlook is positive, but it now trades at a high 21.0 times the company’s latest 12 months of earnings.

Wyndham is a hold.

A professional investment analyst for more than 30 years, Pat has developed a stock-selection technique that has proven reliable in both bull and bear markets. His proprietary ValuVesting System™ focuses on stocks that provide exceptional quality at relatively low prices. Many savvy investors and industry leaders consider it the most powerful stock-picking method ever created.