Carnival Rises, Driven By Higher Ticket Prices

Carnival Corp. (CCL, CUK) on Tuesday reported a quarterly revenue gain, driven by increases in ticket prices, but the cruise operator's earnings were dented by increased fuel and hurricane-related costs.

Shares rose 2.9% to $68.56.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, Carnival saw its net income decline to $546 million, or 76 cents a share, from $609 million, or 83 cents a share, in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, earnings were 63 cents a share. Revenue grew 8.2% to $4.26 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected revenue of $4.15 billion and adjusted earnings of 51 cents a share.

Carnival said rising fuel prices, including realized fuel derivatives, and currency-exchange rates reduced earnings by 3 cents a share in the quarter, while hurricane-related voyage disruptions hurt earnings by about 11 cents a share.

In all, gross cruise costs including fuel rose 9.7%.

Carnival said ticket prices rose 4.5% over the company's full year. The company said cumulative advance bookings for 2018 are ahead of the prior year at higher prices, and that since November, booking volumes for 2018 have been running "well ahead" of the prior year at higher prices.

Write to Austen Hufford at Austen.Hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2017 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)