Earnings
Royal Caribbean Sinks Further
Jeanine Poggi
06/29/09 - 06:06 PM EDT
(Updates with closing price of stock.)
Royal Caribbean(RCL Quote) is once again saying its full-year outlook will be lower than expected, anchored down by high fuel costs and swine-flu outbreak.
The cruise operator previously predicted 2009 profit of about $1.35 per share, with a 10 cents per share deduction for every 10% change in fuel prices.
The company said that since it provided its outlook in April, fuel costs have climbed about 45%. Using this metric, full-year earnings would presumably by 95 cents a share.
Royal Caribbean also announced earlier this month that the swine flu will lower its full-year earnings by about 22 cents per share.
Analysts expect full-year earnings of $1.10 a share.
Royal Caribbean provided this update as part of its report, saying it will start offering $250 million senior notes. Shares in the company remained flat on Monday, closing down by 3 cents, to #13.25.
Earlier in the month rival Carnival(CCL Quote) posted a 32% drop in second-quarter earnings during the quarter, to $264 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with $390 million, or 49 cents, in the year-ago period.
Carnival said the swine-flu pandemic hurt its earnings by 3 cents a share, less than the 5 cents expected.