Continue reading Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) ships return to Mexico

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) ships return to Mexico originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 May 2009 12:00:00 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.

"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.

Hilary: great smile, great dimples, and best of all, GREAT calls... (Sorry, I just can't be PC -- not in a blog.)

Hilary Kramer (HK) in her stock blog, HilaryOnStocks, has changed direction and decided to make people money by saving them some money, suggesting it may be time to bail out of certain holdings. Generally speaking, her comments on the 10 stocks she reviewed were very good.

However, I must take exception to the overall principle of trading in and out of stocks because that may not be smart for certain investors. For example, she suggests that Apple may be over, with its long run-up behind it and that taking some profits is in order. I made a similar argument last week.

More in depth review might reveal that if you got in early and live in a high tax state like California you are looking at losing 22% to 24% of your gain to taxes when you add the state tax to the federal capital gains tax and then add up the transaction fees. So while HK is correct that Apple may start moving lower, the question is by how much?

Also, you must consider where you will put the money when you get it. And if you put it in cash or short-term investments, then when will you get back into the market and what will you buy? And you will be putting back 25% less perhaps.

I am not against paying taxes or rotating out of questionable companies, but you must always look at the broad picture as it applies to your own situation.

Here's my take on the 10 stocks she suggests selling:

Home Depot (HD) and KB Homes (KBH): Solid companies and while they my lag for a while, if you got in at the right price they can be good core holdings depending on your personal circumstances.

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), Coach (COH), Gap (GPS), General Motors (GM): You don't need to bother with them now.

Apple (AAPL) and Hewlett Packard (HPQ): Big maybes.

Krispy Kreme (KKD) and Jet Blue (JBLU): No reason to own in any market!

Also check out my recent posts: "Dividends are very sexy -- no joke" and "A bad rap for a bad market"

My take on Hilary Kramer's 10 Stocks to Sell Now originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.