Continue reading Carnival Reports Q3 Numbers: How Does Stock Look?

Carnival Reports Q3 Numbers: How Does Stock Look? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cleveland fans are angry and still in denial, while South Florida is jumping for joy and celebrating the region's king catalyst for the housing market turnaround. On the evening of July 8th, LeBron James officially placed a catalyst for a potential bottom on the fledgling South Florida condo and housing market. Season tickets at American Airlines were already sold out in anticipation of the King James arrival to the city of Miami. In the words of Minyanville's Todd Harrison today, "Inspiration is a beautiful thing."

Nobody could be more excited and inspired with the King James confidence booster than the following employees of these six companies:

Continue reading Six Miami Companies Heating Up with LeBron James

Six Miami Companies Heating Up with LeBron James originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Short City: Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises

Short City: Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Late Tuesday, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) reported that it will temporarily cancel all stops in Mexico due to fears surrounding the swine flu. "We have decided to cancel calls at Mexican ports for all current sailings. Additionally, we will cancel calls in Mexico for all voyages departing Thursday, April 30 through Monday, May 4," the cruise line operator said in a statement.

Carnival isn't the only cruise line playing it safe. Sector peer Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) also announced plans to temporarily suspend port calls in Mexico. Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not recommended any travel restrictions to halt the swine flu's spread.

Continue reading Carnival Cruise Lines gives Mexico a wide berth on swine flu concerns

Carnival Cruise Lines gives Mexico a wide berth on swine flu concerns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Famous cruise line entity Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), which competes with Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) and The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE: DIS) vacation voyages, reported earnings for the third quarter on Thursday. The company held up well during the summer months. Revenues increased 11% to $4.8 billion. Earnings per diluted share did decrease slightly from a year ago, dropping two pennies to $1.65. But management reported that the number was better than expected because of lower costs and the positive effect of an insurance recovery. As far as Wall Street estimates were concerned, the bottom line beat by a wide margin. This item says that Carnival bested estimates by $0.07.

Another cool thing is that Carnival narrowed its fiscal-year guidance in a most positive way. Before, the company expected that it would book earnings somewhere between $2.70 and $2.80 per share. Well, now management thinks it'll do between $2.79 and $2.81. That shows confidence in the business, and it looks like the market is pretty happy with the results. Taking a look at the stock at the time of this writing, I see that is up almost 3%, and that volume is decent so far.

I personally would not buy Carnival at this time, however, even though there are some sound elements to this story. It does sport a very good dividend yield of 4%, but it's not close to the 52-week low, and one could argue that the upgraded guidance is confirmation that the stock could be a buy. Still, the market is volatile, the economy is questionable, and energy prices remain a concern. Plus, the earnings release did note some weakness in occupancy levels for advance bookings. I'd be fearful of looking at Carnival before a pullback brings the stock in a little. Long term, though, I do think the company will prosper, since I think it is a great brand in the leisure business.

Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change at any time.

Should your portfolio book a cruise with Carnival? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"If you think filling up an SUV is painful, try footing the bill for a massive 1,000-foot ocean liner -- or in the case of Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), an entire fleet of 84 floating cities," notes value investor Nathan Slaughter.

In his Half-Priced Stocks he explains, "Despite unprecedented fuel costs, the company continues to power forward." Here's his bullish review.

"Last quarter, Carnival shelled out $530 per metric ton for fuel, up sharply from $330 per ton a year ago. And after pumping about 800,000 metric tons, the company rang up a total fuel bill of $425 million.

"For the year, management is expecting fuel costs to come in about $750 million higher than in 2007, which will trim earnings by about $0.92 per share. Fortunately, the company is in a position to absorb those higher costs.

"Over the past three months, two million passengers have boarded a Carnival ship, for an occupancy rate of 104.8% (indicating some berths held more than two guests). And those visitors paid $2.6 billion for their tickets and plunked down another $743 million in the lounges, casinos and gift shops after they arrived on board.

Continue reading Carnival (CCL): Cruising for profits

Carnival (CCL): Cruising for profits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), a provider of cruise vacations and competitor of Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), issued its Q2 earnings numbers on Thursday. Revenues rose more than 16% to $3.4 billion. Net earnings were 49 cents a share. That wasn't too impressive, considering that it was a penny better than the previous year's quarter. However, according to Briefing.com, Carnival killed the earnings expectations of analysts by 8 cents. Net sales were also higher than what Wall Street's expectations.

This performance sent the stock up more than 5%. I think investors need to be a little careful here because Carnival's management has become cautious about the next quarter because of energy costs. The company expects earning of $1.56 to $1.58 per share in Q3. Last year's Q3 saw bottom-line income of $1.67 per share. So, growth will not be found in next quarter's report.

Yet, again, the market didn't seem to mind, as it was high off the expectations-beating data. Is Carnival, therefore, a buy? Well, I don't think it's overly expensive considering the P/E ratio and the yield attached to the stock. But the direction of oil prices has me concerned. Not only will that increase costs for Carnival, but it will compete with the discretionary dollars of potential vacationers. I see the valuation case, but the current state of the market makes me reluctant to pull the trigger on this stock. Some would argue that all this is baked into the shares since they did so well yesterday, but I'm not convinced.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned here; positions can change at any time.

Carnival Q2 beat expectations, but I'm not boarding the stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Carnival says it's not where you travel to, it's how

Carnival says it's not where you travel to, it's how originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.