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Carnival (CCL) Reports Preliminary Q4 Results, Stock Down

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Carnival Corporation & Plc (CCL - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2020 financial numbers. The company announced that it remains focused on offloading less efficient ships. It intends to offload 19 less efficient ships, out of which 15 have already left the fleet. Following the preliminary results, the company’s shares declined 1.6% on Jan 11. Notably, the company’s shares have plunged 59.2% in the past year, compared with the industry’s decline of 29.8%.

The company reported adjusted net loss of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter. Moreover, average monthly cash burn in the quarter was $500 million, marginally better than the company’s expectation.

In third-quarter 2020, the company’s monthly average cash burn rate was $770 million, which was in line with the company’s expectation. It anticipates average monthly cash burn in first-quarter fiscal 2021 to be nearly $600 million. The company has enough liquidity to survive in zero-revenue environment in fiscal 2021.

The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $9.5 billion. It announced that in fiscal 2021 it will enter into financial transactions to optimize capital structure.

Carnival, president and CEO Arnold Donald said “With the aggressive actions we have taken, managing the balance sheet and reducing capacity, we are well positioned to capitalize on pent up demand and to emerge a leaner, more efficient company, reinforcing our industry leading position.”

 

Bookings Update

The company stated that cumulative advanced bookings for second half of 2021 are within the historical range. Moreover, bookings for first half of 2022 are ahead of 2019. As of Nov 30, 2020, nearly 45% of guests impacted by the company's schedule changes have received enhanced future cruise credits ("FCCs"), while roughly 55% have requested refunds.

Outlook

The company is unable to provide earnings guidance for fiscal 2021 as it is unsure as to when the entire fleet will return to normal operations. Pause in operations will continue to hurt the company’s liquidity, results and results. The company anticipates to report a net loss on both a U.S. GAAP and adjusted basis for the first quarter and full year ending Nov 30, 2021.

Carnival — which shares space with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH - Free Report) and Royal Caribbean Group (RCL - Free Report) in the Zacks Leisure and Recreation Services industry — currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present.

A Key Pick

A better-ranked stock in the same space is Cedar Fair, L.P. (FUN - Free Report) , which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of Cedar Fair have gained 59.6% in the past three months.

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