Royal Caribbean Cruises Breezes Past Q1 Expectations On Strong Bookings And Onboard Spend

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL reported first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 172.4% year-on-year to $2.88 billion, beating the consensus of $2.82 billion.
Passenger ticket revenues rose to $1.9 billion versus $651.8 million last year.
Total cruise operating expenses were $1.79 billion versus $1.2 billion a year ago.
Gross Cruise Costs per Available Passenger Cruise Days (APCD) increased 8.2% compared to Q1 2019.
Operating income for the quarter was $271.6 million, with an operating margin of 9.4%.
The occupancy rate in Q1 was 102.1% versus 57.4% last year.
Royal Caribbean held $1.22 billion in cash and equivalents as of March 31, 2023.
Adjusted EPS of $(0.23) beat the analyst consensus of $(0.70).
As of March 31, 2023, the group's customer deposit balance was $5.3 billion.
Outlook: Royal Caribbean expects FY23 net yields are expected to increase 6.25%-7.25% (prior view 2.5%-4.5%) vs. 2019.
RCL raised its FY23 adjusted EPS outlook from $3.00-$3.60 to $4.40-$4.80 against the consensus of $3.41.
The company sees Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.50 - $1.60 (consensus $0.94) and net yields increase of 9.6% - 10.1% vs. 2019.
Price Action: RCL shares are trading higher by 8.57% at $72.86 on the last check Thursday.