MW Carnival touts 'across the board' outperformance but stock falls

Carnival Corp. $(CCL)$ raised its profit outlook Friday as the cruise line giant reported "across the board" outperformance and record revenue.

Carnival's adjusted first-quarter profit of 13 cents a share topped the FactSet consensus estimate of 2 cents a share.

Revenue of $5.83 billion beat the analyst estimate of $5.75 billion.

"Our first quarter was truly characterized by outperformance," the company said. "This was across the board and led by incredibly strong demand throughout our portfolio including exceptional close-in demand that exceeded expectations for both ticket prices and onboard spending."

Carnival said it now expects adjusted fiscal 2025 net income to increase more than 30% from 2024. The view reflects a boost of $185 million from its earlier estimate in December.

"While we are not completely immune from the heightened macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility since providing our December guidance, we are still taking up our earnings expectations for the year and we remain on track to have another stellar year across our cruise brands," Carnival said.

The company said its booking curve is its farthest out on record, at record prices.

"Onboard spending is robust and we have proven to be incredibly resilient," the company said.

Carnival's stock was down 5.6% in early trading on Friday.

-Steve Gelsi

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2025 09:34 ET (13:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.