Hurricane Dorian took the wind out of Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd.'s sails in the third quarter, knocking down results by $27 million.
RCCL said net income for the third quarter, its most
profitable quarter of the year, was $883.2 million including the negative
impact from Dorian, up from $810 million a year earlier. Revenue climbed from
$2.8 billion to $3.2 billion.
Dorian, which lingered over Grand Bahama in September, was
the most disruptive storm in the company's history, RCCL said, closing the
three main Florida embarkation ports for a weekend and affecting 16 sailings.
"The financial impact was particularly large because the
affected ships included our very successful Oasis class, because we closed
Perfect Day at CocoCay for 10 days, and because of our extensive relief
efforts," RCCL chairman Richard Fain said.
The storm will shave $30 million from full-year 2019
results. RCCL revised its projection for 2019 adjusted net income down to a
range of $1.99 billion to $2 billion. A consensus of Wall Street forecasts had
expected the company to earn $2.02 billion.
But RCCL also had positive comments about trends in 2020,
saying early prices are higher than in 2019 in all four quarters and "booked
load factors are ahead of same time last year on a like-for-like basis."
In a note to investors, analyst Patrick Scholes of SunTrust
Robinson Humphrey said, "We see that as the most important part of the earnings
release."