By Sam Boughedda
UBS analysts upgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:NCLH) to Buy from Neutral, cutting the firm's price target to $15 from $18 per share in a note on Wednesday.
The analysts said, given the significant improvement in bookings in Norwegian's third quarter preview, it's time to get "all aboard." They said the bookings show Norwegian has caught up to the other cruise lines in occupancy while "still keeping price nicely ahead of 2019 levels."
"We are now overweight the cruise sector with a preference for RCL due to its stronger occupancy recovery, record pricing on bookings in both 2h'22 and 2023 and lowest near-term maturities," wrote the analysts.
However, UBS sees Norwegian as its next most preferred name in the sector due to its "relatively greater concentration of domestic passengers sourced and strong pricing given its exposure to the luxury segment."
"NCLH pre-reported Q3 occupancy of 82%, up significantly from 65% in Q2, catching up to CCL's reported 84% in Q3, while NCLH says they will report net revenue per cruise day growth of up low single digit and gross revenue up high single digit, while CCL reported gross and net revenue per cruise day down -4% vs. 2019," the analysts concluded.