Investors are watching next week’s earnings reports from hotels, cruise lines and other businesses that have been hard hit by COVID-19 for indications of which companies could be the first to bounce back when the pandemic recedes. For nearly a year, money managers have largely looked past earnings in the travel and leisure sector, where coronavirus-fueled lockdowns and travel restrictions battered companies’ businesses and crushed their stock prices: shares of Marriott and Norwegian Cruise Lines, for example, are down 12% or more in the last year, compared to a nearly 17% gain for the S&P 500 through Friday afternoon. Next week’s numbers, however, may offer clues on which companies are in the best financial health and would benefit the most from economic reopening, while also allowing investors to better gauge where companies should be valued. “The results across the board are going to be bad, but it’s really going to be about who is coming back,” said Adam Trivison, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. The focus on travel and leisure companies comes as investors more broadly gauge the effectiveness of the US vaccination effort and the degree to which it will help the economy get back on track. The White House announced Feb. 2 that it will start shipping vaccines directly to retail pharmacies alongside regular shipments to states, increasing weekly supplies of shots to 11.5 million. Approximately 10.5% of the US population through Feb. 11 had received at least one of the two shots required for full vaccination, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Will Hilkert, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Select Leisure fund, said that earnings results over the next two quarters will serve as a gut check for investors who had bet on the leisure sector as a play on the economy reopening. “Over the next six to nine months you’re going to get a chance to make sure that what you think the world is going to look like after the pandemic is being matched by company fundamentals,” he said. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc and Hyatt Hotels Corp are expected to release their results on Feb. 17, followed by Marriott, Norwegian Cruise Lines and TripAdvisor on Feb. 18.