(Reuters) – Royal Caribbean Group raised its full-year profit forecast on Thursday, betting on higher ticket prices and resilient demand for leisure travel from affluent customers.
The company’s shares were up 8.1% at $109.01 in premarket trading as it also forecast third-quarter adjusted profit above estimates.
Even as price-sensitive customers have otherwise cut back on non-essential spending, travel companies including cruise operators have been reaping benefits in recent months from a shift in consumer spending toward services and novel experiences.
Royal Caribbean, the world’s second-largest cruise line operator, like peers has also been bumping up its ticket prices over the past year to protect margins from higher costs linked to fuel, labor and food.
The company expects an adjusted profit between $3.38 and $3.48 per share in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ estimates of $2.89 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
The cruise operator expects annual adjusted profit between $6.00 and $6.20 per share, compared with its earlier forecast of $4.40 to $4.80 per share.
(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
