While the IT sector is selling off, Royal Caribbean shares soared 17%. Is it worth buying?
The stock posted its best growth in 3.5 years
Sea cruises are in steady demand / Photo: Unsplash/Fernando Jorge
Shares of Royal Caribbean, which organizes sea cruises, rose almost 17% in trading on January 29. Their value reached $340.5, the highest since September 12, 2025. Thursday's rally could be the best for the securities since October 2022, and specifically on the day of the report - the best in five years, noted MarketWatch, citing data from FactSet (available since February 2021).
The papers showed such a significant growth against the background of the stock market sell-off, because of which all three major indices - S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite - were in the red zone. Moreover, Nasdaq at the moment was declining by 2.6%. The securities of Royal Caribbean's competitors also rose in price: Carnival added 8.4% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holding 10%.
Royal Caribbean on Thursday reported revenue and profit growth in line with Wall Street expectations, MarketWatch reports. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 added 13.2% to $4.26 billion, net income increased 36% to $754 million. Investors were encouraged by the continued acceleration in demand for cruises, as well as the company's announcement that it may add up to six new ships to its fleet: two are expected to enter service as early as 2029, Bloomberg reports.
"We expect another strong year of financial results with double-digit revenue and profit growth rates," Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty said, he was quoted as saying in a company statement. Adjusted earnings in 2026 will be between $17.7 and $18.1 per share, the company projected. Wall Street on average was expecting $17.67, Bloomberg reported.
Since the beginning of 2026, Royal Caribbean shares have already risen by 20%. Most analysts advise to buy the company's securities: they have 16 Buy ratings and five Overweight ("above market") versus seven Hold (recommendation to hold), MarketWatch shows. There are no "sell" ratings. However, the average target price of $333.4 is about the same as the current price.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
