Carnival Sails Into Profit Despite Some Troubled Cruises

Despite several recent and well-publicized mechanical failures on its cruise ships, Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL) has posted a first quarter profit this year, thanks in no small part to low fuel prices. Fuel prices for Q1 2013 have dropped 4 percent compared to the same quarter last year, reports the AP. Carnival Corp. posted earnings of $37 million in Q1 2013, or 5 cents a share. Last year however, Carnival took a loss of $139 million, which dropped 18 cents off each share.

After Carnival issued a forecast for flat net revenue yields for this year, the stock closed down 2.18 percent at $34.95 on Friday. Carnival had previously forecast that revenue would be up 1 or 2 percent.

Besides the bad publicity from the various mechanical issues that have plagued its fleet recently, Carnival has also been smarting from Europe’s continuing economic troubles and lingering fears from the Costa Concordia disaster in January of last year. Carnival has been actively courting wary passengers with deep discounts off its regular cruise prices.