Rerating Carnival's Moat to Narrow as Brand Continues to Resonate With Consumers

Carnival remains the largest company in the cruise industry, with nine global brands and 92 ships at the end of fiscal 2023. The global cruise market has historically been underpenetrated, offering cruise companies a long-term demand opportunity. Additionally, the repositioning and deployment of ships to faster-growing and underrepresented regions like Asia-Pacific had helped balance the supply in high-capacity regions like the Caribbean and Mediterranean prior to the pandemic, a factor which the firm can again utilize to help optimize forward pricing. With an European demand profile that has recently returned to normalized levels, we belove there is plenty of support for improving economic performance at Carnival.