December 20, 2024
Carnival Corporation ( CCL ) shares gained Friday when the cruise line operator posted better-than-expected profit and gave an optimistic outlook about the new year.
Carnival reported fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23, nearly triple the $0.08 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha, while adjusted EPS of $0.14 also beat expectations. Revenue rose 10% to a Q4 record of $5.94 billion, although that was slightly below projections.
Passenger ticket revenue gained 10% to $3.85 billion, and onboard and other revenue was up 10.5% to $2.08 billion.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Josh Weinstein said that "2025 is shaping up to be another banner year, with yield growth expected to far outpace historical growth rates and again exceed unit cost growth."
Carnival noted that booking volumes taken in the fourth quarter for 2025 were higher than the year before, despite less available inventory and the traditionally slower period around the election. It added that booking volumes taken for 2026 "continued to break records, reflecting sustained demand even for further out sailings."
Shares of Carnival Corporation advanced 4.5% in recent trading and have risen more than 40% year-to-date.
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