Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) abandons NASDAQ for NYSE

  

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) reported earnings on Tue 10 May 2016 (b/o)

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Norwegian Cruise Line beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance :

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.38 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.37; revenues rose 14.9% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.1 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• The Company's current booked position for 2016 is on par with prior year's record levels and at higher prices. Strength in the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and other North American markets is offsetting softness in European itineraries.
• Constant Currency Adjusted Net Yield increased 3.6% (2.5% as reported), driven primarily by solid demand in the Caribbean and strong onboard revenue. Gross Yield increased 2.4%.
• First half of 2017 booking trends remain strong at higher prices.
• Company remains confident in reaching previously stated targets of double-digit Adjusted ROIC in 2016, growing to 14% by 2018, and $5.00 Adjusted EPS in 2017.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.80-0.85, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.97 Capital IQ Consensus; adj. net yield 1.5%.
• Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $3.65-3.85, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.78 Capital IQ Consensus; adj. net yield 3.5%.
• "Continued strong demand in the Caribbean, Alaska, Bermuda, and Hawaii is offsetting softness in Europe which comes mainly as a result of lower demand from North American consumers," said Wendy Beck, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. "While this softness is tempering yield growth mainly in the second quarter, strong bookings and pricing in other core markets, as well as the addition of Seven Seas Explorer to our fleet, are contributing to strong yield performance in the back half of the year, keeping us on track to deliver expected earnings growth of approximately 30%."

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) reported earnings on Tue 23 Feb 2016 (BMO)

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** charts after earnings **

  

Norwegian Cruise Line reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line; guides FY16 EPS in-line :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.51 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 31.4% year/year to $1.04 bln vs the $1.05 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

• Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.34-0.39 vs. $0.34 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $3.65-3.85 vs. $3.73 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Norwegian Cruise Line IPO soars 31%

Norwegian Cruise Line, the No. 3 cruise ship operator in North America, priced shares of its initial public offering late Thursday at $19 a share, and when it opened Friday, the stock soared to over $25.

The shares began trading at 10 a.m. ET, and quickly jumped to nearly $26 a share before losing a bit of steam.

But only a bit: Shares still closed up 31% for the day by the end of the regular trading session, at $24.89.

Late Thursday, shares of the Miami-based operator of 11 cruise ships were priced at $19 a share, signaling a strong reception from investors. The pricing was well above the expected range of $16 and $18 a share.

The deal raises $447 million for the company, since it sold 23.5 million shares. It will trade under the ticker "NCLH" on the Nasdaq electronic exchange.

The stock's sharp rise reflects investors' hopes that the company may be a source of growth. Since Norwegian is smaller than Carnival, which has 99 ships, and Royal Caribbean with 39, investors think incremental growth prospects are better at Norwegian.

Investors are currently paying a price-to-revenue valuation of 2.3 for Norwegian, which is even higher than the 2.0 price-to-revenue paid on market leader Carnival. That's a bit surprising since Norwegian has $2.7 billion in long-term debt, a heavy relative load for its size compared with the $7.2 billion carried by Carnival.

But despite the strong performance of Norwegian, it's important to note that the company still sports a market value of $5.3 billion, which is nowhere near the $30.1 billion value of Carnival and $7.9 billion value of Royal Caribbean.

Norwegian Cruise Line files for a $250 million IPO

Norwegian Cruise Line, the smallest of the three major North American cruise brands, has filed to become a public company – again.


Under a new parent company name, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., the company filed for an initial public offering in the United States, nine months after it filed an IPO as NCL Corporation Ltd., with an offering of up to $250 million in shares.


In today's filing, called an S-1 registration, Norwegian said that it expects to list its shares on NASDAQ under the symbol NCLH, and that it intends to use the proceeds from the share sale to pay down some of its debt.

In a statement, Norwegian said it withdrew its prior S-1 registration under NCL Corporation Ltd., and that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will be the name of the new parent company upon completion of the offering.

Norwegian's first filing for an IPO came last October, the day after it announced a new, two-ship order for delivery in 2013 and 2014 that will expand its capacity by more than 30%.

Norwegian is privately owned by Asian cruise and gaming company Genting HK (which has a 50% stake) and two financial firms, Apollo Management (37.5%) and TPG Capital (12.5%).

The cruise line, far smaller than North America's two largest cruise companies, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., has undergone major changes since Apollo purchased it in 2008.

Many of Norwegian's top executives were replaced and the new management made sweeping changes to the line's itineraries, onboard service and amenities. One the most extreme was the downsizing of Norwegian's once four-ship strong Hawaii program, a money-losing operation that is now down to one vessel, the Pride of America.