Carnival Is Staying Afloat Through 2020, BofA Says After Cruise Line's Preliminary Q2 Report

Carnival Corp CCL will likely be able to fund its requirements until early next year, even with a pause in its operations, according to BofA Securities.

The Carnival Analyst: Geoffrey d'Halluin maintained a Neutral rating for Carnival and raised the price target from 1,000 pence ($12.62) to 1,500 pence ($19). 

The Carnival Thesis: Carnival announced soft preliminary results for the second quarter on Thursday due to the suspension of operations for most of the quarter, and there is low visibility into when cruise operations will resume, d'Halluin said in a Thursday note.

Carnival’s liquidity position and estimated cash burn suggest that the company will be able to fund itself at least until early next year, even if its operations do not resume, the analyst said. 

Carnival estimates a monthly cash burn rate of around $650 million in the second half of 2020, lower than its previous $1-billion estimate, he said.

The company ended the second quarter with around $7.6 billion in available liquidity, d'Halluin said. 

Carnival reported cumulative advanced bookings for fiscal 2021 within historical ranges, the analyst said. 

Although prices are down, Carnival’s booking volumes improved in the six weeks ending May 31 from the prior six-week period, he said. 

CCL Price Action: Shares of Carnival were up 0.27% at $18.88 at the time of publication. 

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