Royal Caribbean's Stock Surges After Profit Beats Expectations

Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruised Ltd. ran up 3.8% in premarket trade Friday, after the cruise operator beat third-quarter earnings expectations. Earnings for the quarter to Sept. 30 rose to $693.3 million, or $3.21 a share, from $228.8 million, or $1.03 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $3.20, above the FactSet consensus of $3.10. Revenue increased to $2.56 billion from $2.52 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2.58 billion, as both passenger ticket and onboard and other revenue were below expectations. Net yields on a constant-currency basis was 2.9%, above the FactSet consensus of 2.2%. Looking ahead, the company expects fourth-quarter constant-currency net yields of 6.0%, compared with the FactSet consensus of 6.4%, and 2016 adj. EPS of $6.00 to $6.10 vs. the FactSet consensus of $6.03. The stock has tumbled 33% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.4%.