Why shares of Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Corporation just released

What happened

Cruise line stocks surged from the port on Thursday, with shares of Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) up 5.3% at 11:50 a.m. EST, Norwegian Cruise Line Holding (NASDAQ: NCLH) up 8.9% and industry leader Carnival corporation (NYSE: CCL) (NYSE: CUK) leader of the peloton – + 10.3%.

And yet, if all fluctuations in stock prices are positive, it would not be correct to say that all news is positive today.

So what

At first glance, it seems Wall Street is the big catalyst for today’s decision.

This morning, Bank of America raised its price targets on the two smallest players in the cruise industry – Norwegian Cruise and Royal Caribbean. The former received a hike of $ 25, StreetInsider.com reports today, and the latter a hike of $ 60. But here’s the thing: despite increasing its price target on Norwegian by almost 40% and double Its price target on Royal Caribbean, Bank of America still only rates neutral Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean remains marked with an underperformance (ie sell) rating.

Now what

Meanwhile, most of the other news regarding the actions of major cruise lines is negative in nature. Yesterday, Royal Caribbean announced that it was extending the suspension of its cruises at several of its cruise brands, including Royal Caribbean International (at least until January 20, 2021), Celebrity (February 28) and Silversea (April 1 for the most ships). . Royal Caribbean has however confirmed that its Quantum of the Seas ship has resumed service in Singapore, reports CruiseIndustryNews.com – at 27% occupancy.

Simultaneously, Norwegian Cruise announced that it is canceling all trips previously scheduled to depart in January and February 2021, as well as most trips in March.

This morning the third shoe dropped when Carnival Cruise announced it was canceling its February itineraries and delaying the first sailing of its Mardi Gras cruise ship in late April.

In short, while the CDC’s ship ban order is technically historic, the cruise industry is still months away from normal – and this recession is not over yet.