HST vs SHO: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: HST is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. HST and SHO share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined HST and SHO exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Host Hotels & Resorts owns 75 hotels, 70 in the United States and five abroad, covering roughly ~41,300 rooms in the luxury and upper upscale tiers. The properties fly flags such as Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Hilton and Four Seasons, and third party managers run day to day operations while Host supplies the buildings, the capital and the renovation decisions. Because these are big convention and resort hotels, rooms are only part of the income: second quarter comparable total RevPAR of ~$417.58 against room RevPAR of ~$251.53 means food, beverage, banquets and other services generate close to ~40% of revenue. Trailing twelve month revenue is ~$6.23 billion, and the structure is a REIT, so most taxable income has to go out as distributions.

Full HST guide

Sunstone Hotel Investors is a Maryland REIT headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, and it has been public on the NYSE since 2004. After selling the 821-room Hyatt Regency San Francisco to funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate on July 30, 2026 for $279 million gross, the portfolio stands at 13 hotels and 6,178 rooms, averaging 475 rooms each. The list runs from urban convention boxes such as Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Marriott Boston Long Wharf and The Westin Washington, DC Downtown to small luxury resorts like Montage Healdsburg and Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley, plus destination assets including Wailea Beach Resort on Maui, Andaz Miami Beach and the newly rebranded Hilton Key West Resort & Marina. Revenue arrives in three lines. Rooms produced $168.3 million of the $277.1 million total in the second quarter of 2026, food and beverage $78.9 million, and other operating revenue $29.9 million. Because a REIT cannot earn hotel operating income directly, Sunstone leases every property to a taxable REIT subsidiary, which then signs long-term management contracts with third-party operators. Franchise and brand assessments ran $9.5 million in the first half of 2026.

Full SHO guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• HST drivers: Rate led RevPAR growth in luxury and resort hotels; Group pace and returning business travel.
• SHO drivers: The Andaz Miami Beach ramp; Selling low-yield assets into private bids.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Lodging reprices every single night, which makes it the most economically sensitive form of real estate, and a downturn reaches Host's income statement in weeks instead of at lease renewal. For SHO, concentration is the first thing to size.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick HST if you believe its drivers more; SHO if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the HST and SHO guides.

HST. Host guides to ~$2.15 to ~$2.18 of adjusted FFO per share for 2026 and ~$1.82 billion to ~$1.84 billion of adjusted EBITDAre, which places a ~$22.90 share price near ~10.5x FFO. Trailing net income of ~$1.03 billion and the resulting ~15x reported P/E are inflated by roughly ~$242 million of gains on hotel sales, so FFO and EBITDA multiples describe the operating business more honestly. Enterprise value of about ~$19.6 billion works out near ~11.6x trailing EBITDA and closer to ~10.7x the guided number.

SHO. Lodging REITs are priced on cash flow multiples and on discounts to appraised asset value, so the trailing P/E carries little information here. At roughly 12x guided Adjusted FFO with 2.6x net leverage, SHO trades well below the ~20x trailing EBITDA that Blackstone paid for the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in July 2026, a gap management cited explicitly when it chose buybacks over acquisitions. The counterweight is cyclicality: hotel revenue reprices nightly, and a demand shock reaches the income statement within weeks.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): HST shows revenue (ttm) ~$6.23B, adjusted ffo per share (2026 guidance) ~$2.15 to ~$2.18, adjusted ebitdare (2026 guidance) ~$1.82B to ~$1.84B, enterprise value / ebitda ~11.6x trailing, ~10.7x on guidance; SHO shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.00 billion for the twelve months to June 30, 2026, against $960.1 million in fiscal 2025, $905.8 million in 2024 and $986.5 million in 2023. First-half 2026 revenue was $536.8 million versus $493.8 million a year earlier, an 8.7% increase, and second-quarter revenue was $277.1 million. The 2023 figure is not directly comparable because the portfolio has since sold the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles and the Hyatt Regency San Francisco while adding a reopened Andaz Miami Beach., earnings and adjusted ffo Trailing net income attributable to common stockholders was ~$41.9 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, versus $8.2 million and $0.04 in fiscal 2025. Second-quarter net income was $26.0 million ($0.14 per diluted share), up from $6.8 million a year earlier. Adjusted FFO, the measure lodging REITs are judged on, was $0.32 per diluted share in the quarter, up 14.3%. Depreciation and amortization of $68.4 million in six months is the main wedge between the two figures., operating metrics Second-quarter RevPAR was $263.61, up 9.3%, with occupancy at 77.6% (up 300 basis points) and Total RevPAR of $434.00, up 7.7%. The comparable portfolio, which excludes the reopened Andaz, ran 77.8% occupancy at a $334.54 average daily rate for $260.27 RevPAR, up 4.3%. Hotel Adjusted EBITDA margin was 28.9% and Adjusted EBITDAre was $76.7 million, up 5.5%. The gap between 9.3% RevPAR growth and 5.5% EBITDAre growth reflects wage, insurance and property tax inflation at the hotel level., 2026 guidance Raised alongside second-quarter results: net income of $79 million to $89 million, RevPAR growth of 7.0% to 9.0%, Adjusted EBITDAre of $245 million to $255 million (midpoint up $8 million), and Adjusted FFO of $0.93 to $0.98 per diluted share. Capital expenditures were lifted to $105 million to $115 million, weighted toward Wailea storm repairs that management expects to be largely insurance-reimbursed. Andaz Miami Beach supplies roughly 450 basis points of the RevPAR guide on its own..

HST and SHO are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined HST and SHO exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.