Carnival Stock Is Sliding Monday: What's Going On?

Carnival Corp CCL shares are navigating choppy waters Monday in the wake of the company's second-quarter results. 

What Happened: Carnival reported second-quarter revenue of $4.91 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The cruise company reported a quarterly adjusted loss of 31 cents per share, which beat estimates for a loss of 34 cents per share. 

Carnival said it saw continued acceleration in booking demand. Operating income came in at $120 million, which was positive for the first time since the company resumed guest cruise operations. 

Gross margin yields were down compared to 2019 as cruise costs increased 13.5% compared to 2019 levels and came in above company expectations due to higher dry-dock related expenses, higher advertising investments and incentive compensation increases. 

"Booking volumes have been tremendous and we are gaining momentum with favorable pricing trends, which reflects improved commercial execution and returns on our advertising investments," said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival. 

Carnival said it expects third-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $2.05 billion to $2.15 billion, while occupancy is expected to be 107%. Full-year adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $4.1 billion and $4.25 billion and occupancy is expected to be 100% or higher. 

The company said it is $1.4 billion off of its peak debt after paying down more than $1 billion of variable rate debt in the quarter. The company also said it paid down $300 million in 2024 maturities this month. 

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CCL Price Action: Carnival shares were down 5.12% at $14.99 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro. Although the company turned in better-than-expected quarterly results, the stock appears to be pulling back after rising more than 85% since the start of the year and more than 32% in just the last month.

Photo: courtesy of Carnival.