Earnings Preview: Carnival Corp.

KRISTEN A. LEE

NEW YORK (AP) — Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, reports its fiscal second-quarter results on Thursday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

OVERVIEW: Consumer confidence rose during Carnival's fiscal second quarter, and investors hope that improved sentiment translated into higher cruise fares.

As vacation spending dropped in late 2008, Carnival and rival Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. were forced to slash prices to fill their ships. Analysts and investors will look for signs that prices regained some ground during the second quarter.

Rising fuel prices and health concerns also posed new challenges to Carnival during the quarter.

Oil prices have doubled since March to more than $70 a barrel, driven by a weaker dollar and investor optimism that the worst of the global economic slowdown might be over. That increase is more than analysts expected, but oil prices are still well below the historic levels of last summer.

Carnival was affected by the swine flu outbreak during the quarter, when it began redirecting ships away from Mexican ports as fear spread that tourists might pick up the virus in Mexico.