Refile: Carnival leads gains in cruise stocks as analysts eye strong travel demand

Hawaiian Holdings

12/06/2023 17:21

(Adds missing word "in" in last paragraph)
    By Chibuike Oguh
       NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Shares of Carnival Corp
 CCL.N  and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd  NCLH.N  jumped
on Monday, and were among the top S&P 500  .SPX  performers, as
analysts anticipate continuing growth in travel demand from
customers.
    Bookings across the cruise industry, which were hit hard
during the pandemic, have now reached historical levels without
any notable upsurge in cancellations, analysts at JPMorgan and
Bank of America Global Research wrote in their investor notes
after meetings with executives at Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd  RCL.N .
   The growth in bookings is largely driven by pent-up demand
from loyal customers returning to taking summer vacations and
other leisure travel, said the analysts.
   JPMorgan upgraded Carnival shares to "overweight", while Bank
of America raised its rating on the stock to "buy", and the
analysts raised their price targets on all the three cruise
companies.
    Carnival shares rose 14% to a more than 1-year high in early
trading on Monday while Norwegian Cruise gained nearly 8%. Royal
Caribbean was up more than 3% to $94 per share. The S&P 500
Hotels Resorts & Cruise Lines Sub-Industry Index  SPLRCHOTL  was
up 0.9% led by gains in cruise stocks. 
    Commercial airline shares were also making gains on Monday
amid falling crude oil prices and growth in demand for seats.
The S&P 1500 Airlines index  .SPCOMAIR  was last up 2% led by
Southwest Airlines  LUV.N , Hawaiian Holdings  HA.O  and
American Airlines group  AAL.O .

 (Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; additional reporting
by Granth Vanaik and Stephen Culp; editing by Lance Tupper and
David Gregorio)
 ((Chibuike.Oguh@thomsonreuters.com; +332-219-1834; Reuters
Messaging: chibuike.oguh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))