Marriott International drew 8 news stories in the 24 hours to 2 November, against a usual 1.6 a day. Reports say the company's third-quarter results came in ahead of expectations and that it raised its full-year revenue and earnings forecasts. The filings behind the move carry a detail that matters to anyone holding the stock: free cash flow rose 80.9% over the year while net income rose just 1.6%.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts. Latest period shown: FY26 Q3.
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| Period | Revenue growth, TTM YoY | Operating margin (TTM) | FCF margin (TTM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY24 Q4 | 5.8% | 15.0% | 8.0% |
| FY25 Q1 | 5.4% | 15.1% | 7.3% |
| FY25 Q2 | 5.1% | 15.1% | 6.5% |
| FY25 Q3 | 4.7% | 15.9% | 7.4% |
| FY25 Q4 | 4.3% | 15.8% | 10.0% |
| FY26 Q1 | 4.7% | 16.0% | 10.6% |
| FY26 Q2 | 4.7% | 15.8% | 11.6% |
| FY26 Q3 | 5.8% | 15.8% | 12.7% |
Growth has picked up
The divergence between profit and cash is the central fact. Net income over the twelve months to Q3 2026 was $2.7 billion, up 1.6% on the year before. Free cash flow reached $3.5 billion, up 80.9% over the same period. Operating cash flow grew 50.6% to $4.1 billion, and capital spending was only $583.0 million, or 2.1% of revenue, so most of that operating cash came through as free cash.
Each dollar of sales is converting into more cash. Revenue rose 5.8% over the year to $27.4 billion, while free cash flow grew 80.9%. The free-cash-flow margin climbed to 12.7% of revenue, up 5.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
Buybacks are compounding the per-share effect. The average diluted share count fell 3.9% over the year, so profit per share grows faster than the $2.7 billion net income figure alone would imply.
Growth has also picked up. Revenue growth of 5.8% over the trailing twelve months was 1.0 percentage points higher than the rate a quarter earlier.
Where Marriott International's figures sit in its own record
Today's free-cash-flow margin of 12.7% sits above 97% of the company's own past quarterly readings, which have ranged from 1.4% to 14.2%. The operating margin of 15.8% is above 87% of past readings (−2.8% to 17.6%), and the twelve-month revenue growth rate of 5.8% is above 53% of past readings (−60.2% to 91.8%). The cash figure is the rare one in Marriott's history.
What Marriott International's share price implies against our model
In our model, the value of the business is most sensitive to growth. A growth rate 5 percentage points lower would lower the value by 30.8%; 5 percentage points higher would raise it by 40.3%. A free-cash-flow margin 1 percentage point lower would lower the value by 8.1%.
What the filings cannot tell you at Marriott International
Our figures run to Q3 2026, from the company's own filings; they cannot confirm, explain or rule out anything in the reports. The free-cash-flow and revenue growth figures above are the ones most directly connected to the demand story in the coverage, but the filings do not state a cause for the margin expansion.