Internationalization and stock returns during the pandemic: Hotels vs. casinos

This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on stock returns and the role of internationalization on the relationship between COVID-19 and stock returns by employing generalized estimating equations with weekly stock returns during 2020 for U.S. hotels and casinos. This study uncovers that as COVID-19 cases rose, hotel firms’ stock returns increased, while casino firms’ stock returns decreased. This study further discloses that the linkage between the pandemic and stock returns depends on the level of internationalization. That is, internationalization is found to hinder hotels from realizing their stock gains while mitigating casinos’ shocks to stock declines during the pandemic. The findings of the present study support the overarching effect of internationalization on stock returns during the pandemic and add clarity to the hospitality literature by focusing on the hotel and casino subsectors.