Carnival Plc, TUI AG & Global Ports: Has the time arrived to buy these Cruise Line stocks?

Highlights

• The cruise line industry with an estimated market of USD 29.4 billion, is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel and tourism sector.
• Successful vaccination drive and ease of travel restrictions are helping to rebuild the cruise line industry once again.

The cruise line industry, which operates short to medium duration sea-based vacations experience, is one of the fastest-growing industry segments amongst the broad travel and tourism industry. The cruise line companies operate the cruise ships to various destinations and provide all the amenities and entertainment on-board.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, the cruise line industry got severely impacted, halting all the cruise ships because of social distancing measures and travel bans in different countries to stop the spread of coronavirus. However, the successful roll-out of vaccination worldwide and ease in travel restrictions are helping to rebuild the cruise line industry once again. Also, investors are anticipating that the industry will perform well from now on.

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Let us explore 3 FTSE listed cruise line stocks and see what investment opportunities they could offer:

Carnival Plc (LON: CCL)

FTSE 250 listed company is one of the largest cruise ship operators, with a fleet of over 100 ships covering all the major destinations globally. It operates through different brands like Princess Cruises, Seabourn, Carnival Cruise Line and many more. The company also owns some resorts and hotels and provide hospitality services. The company’s stock has dual-listing on the London and New York Stock Exchange.

Carnival Plc continues to follow all the health precautions across its cruise ships and has started operations in a phased manner in the US, Caribbean, and Europe. The company has announced plans to resume operations on eight of its brands, with total sailings of 54 ships to date. Nearly half of the cruise ships operations are represented by the cruise ships homeported in the US. The company expects most of its cruise lines to resume operation by the end of this year, with a total fleet operating capacity at 75%.

Carnival Plc current market cap stands at £ 2620.31 million as of 19 August 2021. In the last one year, the stock has given a 51.31% return to the shareholders.

Related Article: Carnival Shares Jump 14% As Cruise Operator Ends $1.5 Billion Stock Offering

TUI AG (LON: TUI)

The company offers tourism services worldwide. Along with the cruise line operations, the company also has a hotels and resorts business, and it also owns an airlines business with a fleet of 150 aircraft.

TUI Cruises operations in Europe started during the last quarter, with seven out of eleven ships offering services. Marella Cruises, which is the UK cruise brand of the company, started operation on 25 June 2021. Cruise Bookings for 2022/23 are in line with the pre-pandemic levels. The total group revenue was at €650 million in the third quarter ended 30 June 2021, with a loss of €939.8 million. The company was able to narrow down its losses compared to the same quarter last year.

TUI AG’s current market cap stands at £3374.04 million as of 19 August 2021. In the last one year, the stock has given a 56.95% return to the shareholders.

Global Ports Holdings Plc (LON: GPH)

The company serves the cruise line, yachts industries through its cruise port operations. It operates a network of 21 ports across famous holiday destinations like Spain, Bahamas, Italy, Montenegro and many more.

The company’s total revenue was at USD 13.9 million, out of which the cruise line contributed USD 12 million during the three months ended 31 March 2021. The revenue was down mainly due to shut down in operation due to Covid-19. However, the company has restarted some of its operations at Mediterranean and Singapore ports.

Global Ports Holdings Plc current market cap stands at £72.88 million as of 19 August 2021. In the last one year, the stock has given a 22.11% return to the shareholders.