Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) soared out of the gate for a 5% gain after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, but has been up and down ever since as buyers and sellers wrestle with the numbers.
CCL reported adjusted earnings of $370 million, with per-share earnings clocking in at 49 cents a share, well above the Street’s consensus for 39 cents. Revenue, too, came in high at $3.71 billion, compared to estimates for $3.68 billion.
Passenger ticket revenue also topped expectations for $2.68 billion with $2.70 billion. And for those counting the less-trumpeted details (and you absolutely should be if you’re reading this), net revenue yields grew 3.6% on a constant-currency basis over the prior year, while fuel cost changes added an additional 4 cents to per-share earnings.
Carnival CEO Arnold Donald had this to say:
“Our strong second quarter demonstrates continued momentum as we again achieved a near doubling of adjusted earnings per share. Our ongoing effort to drive demand for our brands in excess of our measured capacity growth has led to increased revenues and helped maintain the mid-point of our full year earnings guidance despite the recent currency movements and rises in fuel prices that combined represent a negative $0.17 per share.”
CCL Stock Looking Forward
As for the future, Donald is banking on the “remastered” Queen Mary 2 RMS ship, the Alaskan introduction of Holland America‘s Denali square complex (as well as several other new cruise ships) and its historic foray into Cuba.
CCL expects earnings for the full year to come in between $3.25 and $3.35 per share, which is practically in line with its March estimates, but posits Q3 EPS of $1.83 to $1.87. That’s well below the consensus for $1.98.
The announcement of a $1 billion stock buyback program softened that blow somewhat, but CCL is current sitting on a loss of 0.6%.
As of this writing, John Kilhefner did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
