Carnival Corp. (
CCL
) shares are coming down off of some highs Thursday afternoon
heading into its first-quarter 2012 earnings report, though the
stock is still comfortably in positive territory.
Expected out before the market opens, the Street is looking for
Carnival to report a break-even loss in the quarter on revs of
$3.57 billion, compared with earnings of 19 cents and revs of $3.4
billion reported in the same period last year.
Shares of Carnival moved 12.6 percent lower through the quarter, to
$30.29 at the end of February. The stock is about 1.5 percent
better since the end of the quarter and is down about 5 percent for
2012.
Obviously, most of the dip came following the Costa Concordia
incident in January, which saw 30 lives lost. During January,
shares went from above $34 to $29 per share real quick. That's for
a stock which would move in a range of $5 on average over a three
or four month time frame...meaning Carnival's stock is just about
as steady as its armada of liners.
Analysts still appear to be a little bullish on Carnival, Bloomberg
data has 14 analysts at Buy, eight with a Hold, and none at Sell.
The Street's price target average is $34, ranging from $29 to $39.
Carnival has traded within a range of $28.52 to $41.95 over the
last year.
Analyst Comments
- Goldman Sachs is expecting a loss of 13 cents per share, most
of which stems from the Costa Concordia incident. The firm
comments, "We think investors generally expect earnings and
guidance to go lower but any sign of stabilization or reversal in
very recent trends could create a relief rally."
Constant net yield in the quarter should be 1.5 percent, though
prices were recently lowered to reflect higher bunker fuel prices
at $726 per metric ton versus $705 prior.
- Topeka Capital Markets sees earnings of 5 cents per share,
commenting, "investors may look beyond Street estimates muddled
by fuel price spikes and the short-term effects of the Costa
Concordia accident. Higher fuel prices, if assumed to hold, could
necessitate cuts in ours and consensus estimates for F2012.
However, bunker fuel is easily tracked, so we believe investor
sentiment has discounted higher prices, even if Street estimates
have to catch up."
Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's
EPS Insider
section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly
results within seconds of their release. You can also check out
Carnival's past performance at Streetinsider's
Carnival's Income Statement
.