Peel Hunt hiked its price target on Carnival on Thursday to 2,100p from 1,850p following the cruise operator’s first-quarter update a day earlier.
The broker said Carnival’s statement and call were “more positive than expected” regarding forward bookings and pricing.
“Additional evidence of pent-up demand increases our confidence in a bounce-back in trading next year, with potential for an upside surprise from higher pricing,” it said.
“With the UK-listed shares still at an irrational discount to the US-listed we reiterate our ‘buy’ recommendation and increase our multiple-based target price.”
In its update on Wednesday, Carnival – which operates the AIDA, Princess and Costa cruises – posted a widening of its net loss in the first quarter due to the pandemic, but said volumes for all future cruises were around 90% higher than in the final quarter of last year, thanks in part to pent-up demand.
Cumulative advanced bookings for 2022 are ahead of a “very strong” 2019, despite minimal advertising or marketing, it added.
