Royal Caribbean Ups Forecast But Wall Street Worries About Too Many Ships
Photo Credit: The Ultimate Abyss, a waterslide, and other activities are shown aboard Royal Caribbean International's new Symphony of the Seas. Royal Caribbean Cruises on Thursday reported financial results that beat expectations. Royal Caribbean International / SBW-Photo
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Royal Caribbean Cruises has a lot of new ships coming, which will let the cruise operator charge higher prices and attract fresh interest. But as the global cruise industry continues to add capacity, analysts wonder if demand can keep up with the building boom.
Less than a month after welcoming its newest megaship — and with more vessels to come in 2018 — Royal Caribbean Cruises said Thursday that the year has been better than expected so far.
The Miami-based cruise operator beat earnings expectations for the quarter that ended March 31, though it missed on revenue. The company also increased its forecast for the full year. The optimism comes as rivals across the industry add their own new tonnage, prompting some analysts to worry about oversupply.
"I do admit that last year was such an exceptional year that there may have been some slight trepidation about our being able to beat it," said CEO and Chairman Richard Fain. "Fortunately, today, we're really encouraged by the outlook and we're looking forward to beating even last year by 16 percent or so."
The company reported revenue of $2.03 billion, up from $2 billion last year, and profit of nearly $219 million, up from almost $215 million in the first quarter of 2017. Onboard re
