Jeffrey Donnelly said in a note to clients that Choice's relicensing fees may be hurt as franchisees sell fewer hotels and slow down the transaction volume. Choice, whose brands include Comfort Inn and Quality Inn, earns income from those fees.

A slowdown in project development completions could also hurt results, as the market still views the environment as supporting steady supply growth. The Silver Spring, Md., company said during its earnings call that it is not seeing a pipeline pullback, despite hotel owners' difficulties in securing financing for their projects. Choice doesn't expect the pipeline to lessen on the financing concerns, but Donnelly said projects may take an average of six months longer to complete.

He downgraded the stock to "Underperform" from "Market Perform" and lowered his full-year earnings estimate by a penny to $1.70 per share.

Meanwhile, Michael Millman of Soleil Securities Group said Choice's fourth-quarter profit guidance of 41 cents per share on Wednesday was disappointing. The outlook falls below his 43 cents per share estimate and Wall Street's 42 cents per share estimate.

Shares of Choice Hotels International dropped 84 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $39.70 Friday. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $33.14 to $47.60.