Cruise giant Royal Caribbean Group rose Thursday after clearing first-quarter estimates and hiking its outlook on a huge wave of demand. RCL stock climbed higher in a buy zone on results.
Royal Caribbean reported adjusted earnings of $1.77 per share, improving from a loss of 23 cents per share last year. Total revenue leapt 29% to $3.73 billion.
FactSet analysts expected earnings of $1.33 per share on $3.69 billion in sales.
The cruise giant said that this has been the strongest "wave season" in company history from both a demand and pricing standpoint. The wave season offers extra deals from January through March.
Royal Caribbean says it continues to be in a record booked position, with rates for 2024 sailings even further ahead of 2023 levels than they were at the beginning of the year. The company in February hiked its outlook citing already strong demand, which appears to have accelerated.
Meanwhile, consumer spending onboard and on pre-cruise purchases continues to exceed previous years, driven by greater participation at higher prices, Royal Caribbean said.
As of March 31, the cruise line's customer deposit balance stood at $6 billion.
Hoisted Outlook
Royal Caribbean guided Q2 adjusted earnings to between $2.65 and $2.75 per share, up from $1.82 per share during the same period last year. FactSet analysts expect second-quarter earnings of $2.37 per share on 12.7% revenue growth, to $3.97 billion.
Royal Caribbean hiked its full-year earnings outlook to range from $10.70 to $10.90 per share. That's up from its February forecast of $9.90 to $10.10 per share.
FactSet forecasts 2024 earnings will increase nearly 48% to $10 per share on 15.8% sales growth to $16.09 billion.
Royal Caribbean Stock
RCL stock pared gains to 0.5% Thursday, climbing further in a buy zone for a cup base. Royal Caribbean jumped 2.3% premarket.
Shares initially broke out above the 133.77 buy point on March 20 and hit a record high of 141.70 on April 4.
Royal Caribbean fell below its 50-day line on April 15, which marked a sell signal. Shares declined as much as 6.5%, stopping short of the hard and fast 7% automatic sell rule, before rebounding back above the moving average.
RCL stock has advanced 6.2% in 2024.
Rival Carnival rose 1.1% Wednesday on Royal Caribbean's results. Carnival posted record revenue and a narrower-than-expected loss for its first-quarter results in late March. Still, CCL stock has retreated 18% so far this year.
Norwegian Cruise Line ticked lower Thursday after inching higher during premarket trade. The company reports earnings on May 1.
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