Cruise line operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) said Thursday its profit for the fourth quarter increased from last year, driven by stronger than expected revenues and continued good cost discipline. Looking ahead, the company provided earnings outlook for the first quarter, and full year 2010, both of which are estimated to exceed Street expectations.
The Miami, Florida-based company posted net income of $3.4 million or $0.02 per share for the fourth quarter, up from $1.5 million or $0.01 per share in the prior year quarter. On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.06 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Fourth quarter revenues remained flat at $1.5 billion. Sixteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.44 billion for the fourth quarter.
Passenger ticket revenues decreased to $1.0 billion from $1.1 billion, while onboard and other revenues were $422.4 million, lower than $402.2 million in the previous year quarter.
Occupancy for the fourth quarter declined to 100.8% from 101.7%, while passenger cruise days increased to 7.40 million from 6.94 million in the year-ago quarter. Available passenger cruise days or APCD rose to 7.34 million from 6.82 million in the prior year quarter.
Net Yields dropped 7.2% from the year-ago quarter, or 9.7% after adjusting for changes in currency.
Net Cruise Costs per APCD or NCC for the fourth quarter decreased 10.5%. Excluding fuel, NCC declined 8.8% over a year ago.
Total cruise operating expenses declined to $1.0 billion from $1.1 billion in the prior year quarter.
For the full year 2009, Royal Caribbean reported net income of $162.4 million or $0.75 per share, compared to $573.7 million or $2.68 per share in the previous year. Annual revenues declined to $5.9 billion from $6.5 billion in the year-ago.
Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $5.88 billion for the year.
Looking ahead, Royal Caribbean anticipates earnings in the range of $0.25 to $0.30 per share for the first quarter, and earnings of $2.00 to $2.20 per share for the year 2010, which includes $0.39 related to a legal settlement.
The Street currently expects earnings of $0.03 per share for the first quarter, and earnings of $1.48 per share for fiscal 2010.
Royal Caribbean closed Thursday's regular trading session at $25.99, up 56 cents or 2.20% on a volume of 10.68 million shares. In the after-hours, the shares gained 8 cents.
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