Carnival Fueled by Strong Cruise Demand
Here's our initial take on Carnival's (NYSE: CCL) financial report.The short version is that Carnival's fiscal second-quarter results look very strong and represent the company's highest second-quarter revenue ever. On the headlines, both revenue and earnings surpassed analysts' expectations, and by a significant margin. In fact, net income beat Carnival's own guidance by $185 million, and management specifically called out higher ticket prices and higher onboard spending as catalysts.Beyond the headlines, virtually every metric is at a record high or looks extremely impressive. For example, adjusted EBITDA was up by 26% year over year to an all-time high, and operating margin improved by 500 basis points and is now significantly above where it was before the pandemic-era disruption.Continue reading

Here's our initial take on Carnival's (NYSE: CCL) financial report.
The short version is that Carnival's fiscal second-quarter results look very strong and represent the company's highest second-quarter revenue ever. On the headlines, both revenue and earnings surpassed analysts' expectations, and by a significant margin. In fact, net income beat Carnival's own guidance by $185 million, and management specifically called out higher ticket prices and higher onboard spending as catalysts.
Beyond the headlines, virtually every metric is at a record high or looks extremely impressive. For example, adjusted EBITDA was up by 26% year over year to an all-time high, and operating margin improved by 500 basis points and is now significantly above where it was before the pandemic-era disruption.