(By Balachander) Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) shares retreated 4.30 percent in early trade on Thursday after the cruise company guided 2013 below consensus following lower earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter.
On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share (EPS) more than halved to 13 cents from 28 cents, yet beat Wall Street expectations of 11 cents.
GAAP earnings dropped 57 percent to $93 million.
Revenue fell 3.2 percent to $3.58 billion, versus consensus estimate of a decline of 4.2 percent for the fourth quarter.
"Stronger than expected revenue yields combined with lower than expected fuel costs more than offset higher than anticipated operating costs," said CEO Micky Arison.
Net revenue yields fell 4.5 percent on a constant dollar basis, but better than the company's forecast of a drop of 5 percent to 6 percent.
Looking ahead for the first quarter of 2013 , CCL sees non-GAAP EPS between $0.03 and $0.07, while analysts' expect $0.04 a share. The company earned $0.02 per share in the first quarter of 2012. It forecasts constant dollar net revenue yields to fall 2 percent to 3 percent.
For the full year 2013, the company expects non-GAAP EPS in the range of $2.20 to $2.40, trailing market expectations $2.49 per share. It forecasts net revenue yields, on a constant dollar basis, to rise 1 percent to 2 percent.
CCL shares have been trading between $29.15 and $39.95 over the past year.