Why Royal Caribbean Stock Rocketed Today

In a surprise announcement this morning, cruise line company Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) -- which had been expected to report its Q2 2022 earnings next week -- reported this week instead. What's more, the news was relatively benign, with both revenue and earnings coming in better than expected.

Investors are cheering Royal Caribbean stock (now up 5.8% as of 12:12 p.m. ET) in response, and not only Royal Caribbean. Peer cruisers Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH) and even Carnival (NYSE: CCL) are sailing higher as well, up 2.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

Royal Caribbean reported sales of $2.18 billion in its fiscal second quarter, about $70 million more than analysts had predicted. The company didn't earn a profit -- and wasn't expected to -- but it did lose only $2.05 per share, which was again less than expected. Management characterized these results as "meaningfully ahead of the company's expectations driven by accelerating and strong close-in demand, further improvement in onboard revenue and better cost performance." It further noted that it was cash flow positive in the quarter.

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Source Fool.com