Viking Holdings sailed past Wall Street's forecasts early Wednesday as the luxury cruise line posted its initial quarterly report following its May 1 initial public offering. However, VIK hit some choppy seas in early stock market action.
Viking CEO Torstein Hagen highlighted "strong advanced bookings for 2024 and 2025" in an earnings statement.
As of May 19, Viking had sold 91% of capacity for this year and 39% for 2025 for its Viking River, Viking Ocean, Viking Expedition and Viking Mississippi lines.
On Tuesday, Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski started coverage of VIK stock with a buy rating and 37 price target, calling it "the ultimate growth story" in the luxury cruise space. He predicts EBITDA growth of 17% for the next three years.
Viking Earnings
Revenue grew 14% to $718 million, easily beating expectations of $635 million. Viking posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of -$4.4 million vs. expectations of -$28 million, improving on the year-ago EBITDA loss of $50.6 million.
Viking reported earnings per share of -$1.21, including a $306.6 million derivative loss. However, the earnings report didn't include an adjusted EPS figure. Analysts were expecting a loss of 47 cents per share.
During Q1, Vikings passenger capacity grew 14.5% from a year ago, while occupancy rose to 94% from 92.8%.
Viking gets the bulk of its revenue and profits in Q2 and Q3.
Viking Stock
Viking stock fell 2.9% to 29.71 in Wednesday's stock market action. On Tuesday, VIK motored 3.1% to 30.60, a new closing high. Several analysts initiated coverage on Viking on Tuesday, mostly with buy ratings.
Viking was IBD Stock Of The Day on May 20, when it broke out of its IPO base.
Royal Caribbean Group, which has powered through a buy zone this month, fell 1.45% on Wednesday, still close to an all-time high.
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