Carnival "neutral," estimates reduced

21.06.07 - Credit Suisse

NEW YORK, June 21 (newratings.com) - Analyst S Barry of Credit Suisse maintains his "neutral" rating on Carnival Corp (CCL), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $45.

In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentions that the company has reported its F2Q EPS in-line with the estimates. Carnival has reduced its EPS guidance for 2007 from $2.90-$3.10 to $2.85-$2.95 to reflect increased net cruise costs and an unchanged net revenue yield. Encouraging trends for the company include an incremental improvement in the North America booked occupancy, an improved group revenue build and a pick-up in Caribbean volumes, Credit Suisse adds. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been reduced from $2.95 to $2.92 and from $3.20 to $3.15, respectively.