By Will Feuer
Shares of cruise operators tumbled in morning trading on Friday after Carnival Corp. posted a larger-than-expected loss and disappointing revenue for the fiscal third quarter.
Carnival stock plunged more than 20%, to $7.30 a share, the lowest price seen for that stock since the early 1990s.
Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. fell almost 11%, to $39.02 a share, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. stock fell 15%, to $11.78 a share.
Carnival has more exposure than its rivals to the mass-market cruising category, where customers could be more affected by inflation than those in higher-end categories. The company has been discounting tickets and spending more on advertising to pack ships.
As a result, the company's quarterly revenue has surged from a year ago, when many of Carnival's ships weren't operating due to pandemic-related restrictions in many parts of the world. The company's quarterly losses have narrowed significantly, as well.
For the three months ended Aug. 31, the company posted a loss of 65 cents a share, narrowing from the loss of $2.50 a share it posted a year earlier. But analysts were looking for more progress, with the average expecting a loss of 9 cents a share, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose to $4.31 billion from $546 million a year earlier. But analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $4.9 billion.
"We can do better," CEO Josh Weinstein said on a conference call with analysts.
Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 30, 2022 10:37 ET (14:37 GMT)
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