Jim Cramer - Mad Money
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
NCLH-N
COMMENT
Aug 09, 2021
A federal judge ruled in favour of NCLH demanding proof of vaccination from its customers. Good idea. Florida will appeal this decision, even though the Delta variant is spreading Covid like crazy.
The cruise lines had a great run last year, but stalled this year. However, recently they are bouncing back. Late-July, NCLH returned to service and last weekend they had their first U.S. cruise, post-Covid, from Seattle to Alaska. By the end of this quarter, NCLH expects to operate at 40% capacity, 75% by end year's end, and 100% by April 2022. They reported last week that they are still losing money, but bookings are strong, especially for 2022. Last weekend, they won a key court case in Florida to refuse service to unvaccinated customers and crew.
If the Omicron variant does not slow down the economy and the market snaps back, then buy... It's committed to 100% vaccinations by passengers, so it's safe. It's been hammered, but it's a buy opportunity.
It reports Thursday. Watch that, because rival Carnival reported brutal numbers today and crushed all the cruiseline stocks. He bets that Norwegian will have better things to say.
Cruise lines have all done well because travel is booming. He'd pick RCL, but thinks they'll all do well. Q3 is generally the industry's best quarter. Run up a lot already, so may see a pullback after Q3. Pent-up demand might even last into 2024.
It reports Tuesday. There was enormous guidance hype from Royal Caribbean, which he doesn't expect NCLH to emulate, but this could be worth a trade on Monday.