Wells Fargo maintains its positive stance on cruise line stocks Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH), as they expect modest beats and raises, the firm's analysts said in a note Friday.
The analysts maintained an Overweight rating on both stocks, raising the NCLH price target to $24 and the RCL price target to $109 per share. They told investors that pricing is steady while the deleveraging stories are progressing.
"We acknowledge cruise stocks have been on a tear (since, Apr. 1, up an avg 63% vs SPX +11%) and valuations are back to historical levels, but we still see some upside to estimates here," the analysts wrote.
"Fundamentals remain strong, the deleveraging progress is well underway, and prior company guidance reflected conservatism/recession concerns, which have seemingly moderated these past few months," they added.
The firm prefers RCL and NCLH modestly over CCL based on upside yields and pricing power.