La Quinta is the Hotel Stock to Own for 2015 Amid Lower Gas Prices

La Quinta sits perfectly between two strong secular trends: lower gas prices and the strength of the American consumer, with 95% of its rooms housed in the U.S. Beyond the strong secular backdrop, La Quinta is also a terrific operator. Management is aggressive about finding new ways to maximize efficiencies, cut costs and boost profitability, to the point where its CEO Wayne Goldberg can tell you exactly how long it takes for housekeeping to clean an average room - just 21.4 minutes - and every minute shaved off this process is worth $2 million to the company annually. This discipline shows up in their operating margins - 50% at the company-owned hotels. With this in mind, it not surprising that La Quinta has beaten Wall Street expectations each quarter since its IPO last April. Right now the stock is trading at 10 times EBITDA (a 35% discount to its peers) despite boasting a 30% long-term growth rate. I think that's crazy considering that La Quinta is one of the best operators in the industry with a superior growth profile. It's time to check into this hotel.