$NCLH, $CCL, $RCL: why are cruise stocks gaining today?

Cruise stocks are in the green at writing after Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH) talked of “very strong demand” at its investor conference on Monday.

Norwegian Cruise Line raised full year outlook

Norwegian raised its profit guidance for the full year and laid out a three-year plan aimed at increasing shareholder returns at its investor day.

The cruise lines operator is calling that strategy “Charting the Course”.

$NCLH cited “record bookings” and said it now expects to earn $1.42 per share on an adjusted basis this year. Analysts, in comparison, were at $1.36 a share.  

The cruise company left its outlook for capacity unchanged at 105.1% but boosted guidance for net yield as well to 7.2% from about 6.4%. Norwegian stock is currently down some 20% versus its year-to-date high.

$NCLH commits to EPS of $2.45 by 2026

Note that it’s the second time that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd has raised its full-year profit guidance this month.

On May 1^st, it reported a weaker-than-expected growth in quarterly revenue but lifted per-share earnings outlook to $1.32 from about $1.23.  

$NCLH committed to increasing its adjusted EPS to $2.45 by 2026 as part of its “Charting the Course” strategy unveiled on Monday. Consensus for that year currently sits at $2.22.

Shares of its peers Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean are also up more than 5.0% each following the bullish remarks from Miami headquartered Norwegian Cruise Line that Wall Street currently rates at “hold”.