William Blair Has Negative Estimate for RCL FY2026 Earnings

Key Points

• William Blair has reduced its FY2026 earnings per share estimate for Royal Caribbean Cruises from $18.31 to $17.76, while maintaining an "Outperform" rating on the stock.
• Royal Caribbean Cruises reported $4.38 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations by $0.34, with a revenue of $4.54 billion.
• A recent insider sale involved Director Richard D. Fain offloading 16,000 shares, marking a 9.62% decrease in his ownership stake in the company.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL - Free Report) - Research analysts at William Blair decreased their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report issued on Monday, August 18th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $17.76 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $18.31. William Blair has a "Outperform" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Royal Caribbean Cruises' current full-year earnings is $14.90 per share.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.04 by $0.34. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 20.97% and a return on equity of 47.15%. The business had revenue of $4.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.21 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 5.550-5.650 EPS.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on RCL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $235.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $230.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $390.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $300.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $327.14.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock traded up $19.1890 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $344.2190. 2,266,960 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,245,580. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12 month low of $154.08 and a 12 month high of $355.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $319.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $93.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other news, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 10,300 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total transaction of $3,399,412.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,414,966.28. The trade was a 38.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 5,207 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.47, for a total transaction of $1,715,550.29. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,578,432.22. This represents a 39.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,507 shares of company stock valued at $10,091,282 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.95% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Caribbean Cruises

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RCL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter worth $1,021,893,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 1st quarter worth $358,614,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 22,154.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410,962 shares of the company's stock worth $289,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,622 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3,544.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 963,034 shares of the company's stock worth $222,166,000 after purchasing an additional 936,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,604,177 shares of the company's stock worth $9,270,252,000 after purchasing an additional 929,414 shares during the last quarter. 87.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Company Profile

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 21, 2024, it operated 65 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.