Stifel Raises Price Target on Carnival Corp. (CCL) Following 1Q Beat
Stifel reiterated a Buy rating on Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL), and raised the price target to $67.00 (from $64.00), following the company's 1Q earnings report. Adjusted EPS was reported at $0.39, ahead of $0.32 consensus. Management’s guidance called for EPS of $0.28 to $0.32. Variance to guidance was driven by better yield performance and timing-related cost savings.
Analyst Steven Wieczynski commented, "Although we expected CCL to beat the quarter and believed management would deliver encouraging forward-looking business commentary, the company exceeded our expectations on both fronts. As a result of sustained strength in close-in booking demand and a “robust” Caribbean pricing environment, CCL delivered ticket yield growth well ahead of our forecast. Additionally, onboard yields increased ahead of our expectations, reflecting the benefits of recent fleet reinvestments and management’s commitment to maximizing the productivity of its onboard offerings. Combined, these two items produced net yield growth of 0.3%, well ahead of our (0.9)% forecast."
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Shares of Carnival Corporation closed at $52.37 yesterday.