What Happened?
Shares of cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) jumped 3.2% in the afternoon session after an analyst reiterated a bullish stance on the stock ahead of its upcoming earnings report.
William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia maintained a Buy rating on Royal Caribbean, pointing to a positive outlook for the company. The view was based on expectations for a strong third-quarter performance, driven by widespread momentum across its operations. This positive sentiment was also supported by expectations of solid ticket pricing and onboard spending. Further boosting investor confidence, the company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.75 to $1.00. Royal Caribbean was expected to announce its third-quarter earnings on October 28th.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $313.29, up 3.4% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Royal Caribbean’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock gained 13.2% on the news that the company reported strong third results, with earnings exceeding analysts' expectations while revenue was in line. Looking ahead, Royal Caribbean's positive EPS guidance for the next quarter exceeded analysts' expectations. Overall, this quarter had some key positives.
Royal Caribbean is up 36.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $313.29 per share, it is still trading 14.4% below its 52-week high of $365.84 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Royal Caribbean’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $5,162.
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