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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in Royal Caribbean a Decade Ago

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Royal Caribbean (RCL - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to RCL for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Royal Caribbean's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Royal Caribbean's main business drivers.

Based in Miami and incorporated in 1985, Royal Caribbean Cruises is a cruise company. It owns and operates three global brands — Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. Additionally, it has a 50% investment in a joint venture with TUI AG, which operates the brand TUI Cruises.

The company’s cruise brands primarily serve the contemporary, premium and deluxe segments of the cruise vacation industry, which also includes the budget and luxury segments. These brands operate 64 ships. The ships operate on a selection of diverse itineraries worldwide that include roughly 1,000 destinations on all seven continents.

The company reports revenues under the following segments — Passenger ticket revenues (68.8% of total revenues in 2023) and Onboard and other revenues (31.2%).

Across the company’s five brands, nearly 5.5 million guests sailed in 2022. By the end of 2022, 64 out of 75 ships returned to operations, representing more than 85% of its worldwide capacity. The company’s bookings improved sequentially by 2022-end. As of Dec 31, 2023, the company had nearly $5.3 billion in customer deposits.

In the third quarter of 2022, the company unveiled a three-year financial performance initiative — the Trifecta Program — thereby articulating longer-term financial objectives. The program emphasizes financial coordinates, including Adjusted EBITDA per APCD, Adjusted EPS and ROIC. Under this program, the company expects to achieve a triple-digit adjusted EBITDA per APCD, exceeding the earlier record adjusted EBITDA per APCD of $87 in 2019. The company also expects to achieve double-digit adjusted earnings per share, exceeding the earlier record adjusted earnings per share of $9.54 in 2019.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Royal Caribbean, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in June 2014 would be worth $2,896.45, or a gain of 189.65%, as of June 13, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 180.87% and the price of gold went up 74.63% over the same time frame.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for RCL.

Shares of Royal Caribbean have outperformed the industry in the past year. The company posted impressive first-quarter 2024 results, with earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top and the bottom line increased on a year-over-year basis. The company has been benefitting from strong cruising demand from new and loyal guests and robust booking trends. Also, strength in consumer spending onboard and pre-cruise purchases bodes well. Going forward, the company emphasized investing in a modern digital travel platform to streamline the vacation booking process for customers and expand wallet share. Also, it emphasized new innovative ships and onboard experiences to boost its offering and deliver superior yields and margins. Earnings estimates for 2024 have increased in the past 30 days. However, increasing costs are a concern.

The stock is up 11.97% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 8 higher, for fiscal 2024. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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