Royal Caribbean reported fourth-quarter profit of $109.8 million but missed Wall Street expectations, mostly because revenue for the quarter fell two percent. The decline was attributed to weak pricing in the Caribbean, which is the company's biggest market.
Royal Caribbean has faced stiffed competition in the Caribbean from smaller rivals such as MSC Cruises, who offer cheaper packages. The good news is pricing is expected to be up low single digits for the remainder of 2015.
Royal Caribbean's net income rose to $109.8 million, or 49 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $7.02 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.
Royal Caribbean reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.11.
In addition, passenger ticket revenue rose 1% to $1.303B in the fourth quarter but revenue fell to $1.82 billion from $1.85 billion.
Looking forward to 2015, bookings over the past three months have been higher than prior year levels, and the company is experiencing a good, but typical WAVE season.
