Carnival
stock was rising Monday after Wall Street upgraded shares of the cruise company as pent-up travel demand remains strong.
J.P. Morgan
analyst Matthew Boss upgraded shares of
Carnival
(ticker: CCL) to Overweight from Neutral on Monday and raised his price target on the stock to $16 from $11.
Boss wrote in a research note that J.P. Morgan hosted senior management meetings with major cruise lines, and a major takeaway from those meetings was that there was a “bullish tone on current trends (and 1H24 bookings) with zero signs of momentum slowing as pent-up loyalist demand a year ago transitions to new-to-cruise strength today.”
Boss also noted company-specific catalysts that led to his bullish stance. This includes Carnival’s investments in guest experiences, including the work on its private island in the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay.
“Multi-year, CCL has six private destinations around the Caribbean and is leveraging its land-based assets to drive further value creation into 2H25 with a meaningful expansion of Half Moon Cay by building a pier to bring larger ships and improve shoreside guest experience,” Boss wrote.
BofA Securities analyst Andrew Didora also upgraded shares of Carnival, to Buy from Neutral, and raised his price target to $20 from $11.
“We think CCL’s strategic vision can drive share price outperformance as the company emerges from the pandemic,” Didora said. He also added that cruise recovery has stabilized since Covid-19, and booking data look strong.
Shares of Carnival rose 15% Monday to $15, and were on pace for their largest percentage increase since November 2020. The stock has soared 86% this year.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
(NCLH) and
Royal Caribbean Group
(RCL) shares were also gaining 9.3% and 3.5%, respectively, after their price targets were raised.
Carnival is expected to report fiscal second-quarter earnings on June 22.
Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]
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