“A fantastic start to the year”: Carnival Corp. posts record Q1 revenues

Carnival Corporation made a splash this week, reporting a successful wave season as it released its financial results for Q1 2024, along with outlooks for the year.

Carnival (which owns Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn) posted record first-quarter revenue of $5.41 billion, narrowly missing analyst estimates of $5.43 billion.

The company also posted a smaller adjusted net loss than expected of $180 million, or an adjusted loss of 14 cents per share.

The cruise line also updates its full-year outlooking, noting that Tuesday's collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, and its impact on voyages, isn't yet included.

The bridge collapse is estimated to cost Carnival’s full-year net income by up to $10 million. This, combined with continuing to reroute ships to avoid conflict in the Red Sea, could affect adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) by some $130 million USD, reports say.

Carnival Corp. is projecting a full-year 2024 adjusted income of about $1.28 billion, up from a prior outlook of $1.2 billion, but still below analyst estimates of $1.36 billion.

"This has been a fantastic start to the year. We delivered another strong quarter that outperformed guidance on every measure, while concluding a monumental wave season that achieved all-time high booking volumes at considerably higher prices," Carnival Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Josh Weinstein said in a statement.

Carnival shares were up nearly three per cent at $17.55 on Wednesday (March 27) after dipping to $16.17 early in the session.

They have increased 90 per cent over the last 12 months.

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