Choice Hotels International (CHH) Stock Price & How to Invest

Choice franchises hotels rather than operating them at scale. Brands under its roof include Comfort, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Econo Lodge and Rodeway at the value end, WoodSpring Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Studios and Everhome Suites in extended stay, and Cambria, Ascend and the Radisson Americas family further upmarket. Franchisees own the real estate, hire the staff and carry the mortgage; Choice collects a royalty on gross room revenue plus initial fees, marketing and reservation contributions, partnership and procurement income, and loyalty economics through Choice Privileges. Only ~18 hotels are company-owned and ~13 are managed as of June 30, 2026, so the capital intensity of lodging largely sits on someone else's balance sheet. International operations span 49 countries and territories, mostly through master franchise arrangements, with Choice Hotels Canada brought fully in-house in 2025 for ~$114.5 million.

What an investor is actually underwriting is three numbers: system size, RevPAR and the effective royalty rate. Second-quarter 2026 showed global net rooms up ~2.6%, US RevPAR up ~1.3% and the US royalty rate up ~11 basis points to ~5.23%, which lifted franchise and management fees ~6% to ~$188 million. Reported net income fell ~21% year over year to ~$64 million on heavier reimbursable spending, higher interest expense and depreciation from the Canada deal, while adjusted EBITDA still rose ~6% to ~$175 million. Leverage is the other half of the picture: ~$2.0 billion of long-term debt against ~$43 million of cash and only ~$142 million of book equity, a structure that flatters return on equity and magnifies the effect of a soft travel year. Management raised the adjusted EBITDA range for 2026 while cutting the GAAP net income range, and the company has been without a permanent chief executive since May.

RevPAR is the swing factor and it is barely growing: full-year US RevPAR guidance sits at ~0% to ~1.25%, and Choice skews toward economy and midscale travelers whose trips are the first to be cut. Leverage amplifies whatever happens, with ~$2.0 billion of debt against ~$43 million of cash, roughly ~4x net debt to EBITDA, a ~6.11% coupon on the 2034 notes and a revolver drawn at ~4.92%, which is why interest expense was named in the guidance cut. Governance is concentrated: Stewart W. Bainum Jr. beneficially owns ~21% and the Bainum family and affiliates ~43% of shares outstanding, so minority holders have limited influence over strategy or any future transaction. Leadership is unsettled after Patrick Pacious stepped down as president and CEO on May 20, 2026, with Chief Growth and Strategy Officer Dominic Dragisich serving as interim CEO while the board runs a search. On legal matters, the second-quarter 2026 Form 10-Q states the company is not party to any material litigation other than ordinary-course matters; separately, Choice disclosed a January 2026 network intrusion affecting ~24,115 people, and a consumer data-privacy class action (Sanchez v. Choice Hotels International) was filed in Maryland federal court on February 25, 2026, which is a data-breach claim rather than a securities-fraud action.

15 analysts publish price targets on CHH, averaging $114.47 against a $102.75 price as of August 2026, or +11.4%. The published targets run from $86.00 to $129.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 3 buy, 8 hold, 5 sell. Over the last six months there have been 7 raises and 5 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full CHH forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Choice Hotels International. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Net unit growth turning back positive. US room openings rose ~27% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, at ~6,400 rooms the best second quarter since 2019, while exits fell to their lowest second-quarter level since 2020. The most optimistic published target, $129.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. RevPAR is the swing factor and it is barely growing: full-year US RevPAR guidance sits at ~0% to ~1.25%, and Choice skews toward economy and midscale travelers whose trips are the first to be cut. The most pessimistic target, $86.00, is roughly what CHH is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on CHH, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Choice Hotels International's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM, total incl. reimbursables): ~$1.62B
• Revenue excl. reimbursables (TTM): ~$1.0B
• Net income (TTM): ~$328M
• Diluted EPS (TTM): ~$7.08
• Market cap / enterprise value: ~$4.6B / ~$6.7B
• P/E and EV/EBITDA (TTM): ~14.5x / ~13.1x

Second-quarter 2026 delivered ~$441 million of total revenue, ~$175 million of adjusted EBITDA (up ~6%) and ~$2.02 of adjusted diluted EPS, while GAAP net income fell to ~$64 million. Management raised full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to ~$635 million to ~$650 million and trimmed GAAP net income to ~$230 million to ~$241 million, a split that comes from reimbursable marketing spend, interest expense and a higher tax rate rather than from the fee business. Capital returns continue at ~$139 million year to date through dividends of ~$0.2875 per quarter and buybacks, with ~1.8 million shares left under the repurchase authorization.

Other names that sit close to CHH: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get CHH exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so CHH sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where CHH fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

CHH is a high-margin franchise royalty business with a slow-growth demand backdrop, an unusually leveraged balance sheet, and an interim CEO, which puts execution on unit growth and royalty rate at the center of the story.

Whether CHH is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is CHH a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the CHH stock forecast.

For income investors, whether CHH pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does CHH pay a dividend? And to weigh CHH against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: CHH vs WH and CHH vs MAR.