"What you’ve seen lately is still really strong employment numbers, increased expectations for GDP growth," Oberg told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. "You’re also seeing that inflation is calming down, which I think ... helps everybody think, 'Okay, you know what? We could actually have kind of a soft landing without a huge downfall.'"
A soft economic landing is viewed by market watchers as a gradual slowing of an economy brought on by a series of interest rate hikes. On the flip side, a hard economic landing is when growth plunges, as a too-high level of interest rates stalls the economy.
Marriott's forward US bookings and spending trends inside hotels signal as much, Oberg added. The company also continues to see a strong outlook for new hotel room development.
Marriott's second quarter performance and outlook also support the economic bullishness.
The purveyor of the Ritz-Carlton brand saw second quarter revenue per available room in the US and Canada rise 5.2% from a year ago. At the same time, occupancy levels rose 1.2% and average daily rates improved 3.4%.
The company's more budget-centric Westin and Sheraton brands saw the best performances in terms of revenue per available room and average daily rates.
Overall, net sales increased 14% year over year to $6.08 billion. Analysts had expected $6.02 billion. And adjusted earnings per share gained 26% from the prior year to $2.26, ahead of forecasts for $2.15.
Marriott lifted its full-year profit forecast to $8.36-$8.65 a share from $7.97-$8.42 previously. Analysts were modeling for earnings of $8.33 a share.
Marriott stock advanced 1.5% during Tuesday's trading.
"There was nothing really in today’s results or outlook to change the narrative on the stock, in our view," JPMorgan analyst Joseph Greff wrote in a client note. "Demand trends are normalizing, and domestic deceleration is well-known to investors at this point (based on our incoming investor calls), with international growing more significantly (particularly in China)."
"Bulls can point to (still) healthy overall trends, with upside in domestic incentive management fees (IMFs) and, to a lesser degree, in China IMFs," Greff added.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
