Carlyle-Backed Orion Breweries Said to Plan Tokyo IPO Next Month
The brewery has hired Nomura's securities unit, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. as underwriters to its initial public offering, the people said, who declined to be named discussing private information. Orion, based in Japan's southern islands of Okinawa, plans to unveil details such as listing date and offering size as soon as next week, they said.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Best Stock to Buy Right Now: Carnival Corporation vs. Viking Holdings
Key Points Carnival and Viking are both leaders in the cruise industry but have different niches. Viking just had its IPO in June and has been on a tear ever since. Carnival has a higher debt load but a much lower valuation. 10 stocks we like better than Carnival Corp. › The cruise industry is an interesting one from a stock market perspective. During the pandemic, these companies had to take on a huge amount of debt and sell equity, diluting their shareholders, to raise cash and ride out COVID-19. But in the post-pandemic world, the cruise industry has been incredibly strong, initially due to "revenge" travel and the need for experiences. But even after inflation and interest rates spiked in 2022, the cruise industry held up very well, showing perhaps a longer-term growth trend. Cruising is also a more efficient form of travel than staying in hotels, which have gotten more expensive. Despite the strong recent results, these companies are still digging themselves out of their debt holes, which could lead to further upside as they pay down debt and de-lever their balance sheets. Two leaders in the space are Carnival (NYSE: CCL), the oldest publicly traded cruise stock, having been on the stock market since 1987, and Viking Holdings (NYSE: VIK), the newest public cruise stock, having just had its initial public offering (IPO) in June. Which is the better buy today for those looking to play the continued recovery of cruise stocks? The experienced veteran or new kid on the block? Both companies are hitting it out of the park There appears to be great strength across the cruise industry, with both companies posting terrific recent numbers. Off of a very strong 2024, Carnival grew revenue 9.5% last quarter, but with a massive inflection in profitability as adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings per share more than tripled. Not only that, Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein noted that Carnival had already achieved its 2026 SEA Change operational and financial targets it had set for itself two years ago, 18 months ahead of schedule. Those targets included operational goals around sustainability, the important profit-centered metrics of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) per available lower berth day (ALBD), and return on invested capital (ROIC). As of the second quarter of 2025, EBITDA per ALBD had grown 52%, and ROIC had more than doubled to 12.5% over just the past two years. That's really impressive, owing to Carnival's pricing actions, capacity restraint, and a focus on costs. But Carnival isn't the only cruise company reporting impressive results. In its first quarter, Viking impressed investors with revenue growth of 24.9% on the back of a 7.1% increase in net yields and a 14.9% increase in capacity. Net yields are essentially the direct profits per customer, equaling net revenues per available passenger cruise day minus the costs of travel commissions, transportation, and onboard costs. Viking's management also forecasted good times ahead, noting that it was basically sold out for 2025, and 37% of capacity was already booked for 2026 -- ahead of where the company was with forward bookings at this point last year. But Viking's debt picture looks much better than Carnival's So, both companies appear to be on a good path operationally. But for the foreseeable future, these companies will be devoting most or all of their profits to paying down their COVID-era debt. On that front, Viking appears to be in a much better position. Today, its debt sits at 2.0 times its trailing EBITDA as of March 31, while Carnival's debt-to-EBITDA ratio sat at a higher 3.7 times as of May 31. It's not entirely clear why Viking came out of the pandemic with a lower debt load than Carnival. It could be that since Viking was a private company before 2020, it hadn't taken on the leverage to repurchase stock as aggressively as Carnival had done as a public company in the years leading up to the pandemic. It could also have something to do with each company's business model. Carnival is largely in the business of ocean cruises all over the world across a number of brands. Viking is largely engaged in river cruises, mostly in Europe, and focuses on older cruise enthusiasts, who tend to be less economically sensitive. Viking also has ocean cruises, but those ships totaled only about 12% of its capacity last quarter. But Viking's valuation has already taken off On the back of strong results, both stocks have done well in recent months. However, Viking has done extraordinarily well, with the stock having appreciated 150% from its June $24 IPO price to $60 as of this writing. Carnival has also had a strong recent run, with the stock up nearly 23% on the year. Still, Viking's run has caused its valuation to soar much higher than Carnival's, with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and forward enterprise value-to-EBITDA (EV-to-EBITDA) ratio of 24.5 and 16.9, respectively. Meanwhile, Carnival is much cheaper, trading at a forward P/E ratio of 15.3. And while Carnival does sport a higher debt load, even its forward EV-to-EBITDA ratio, which accounts for debt, is much lower, at 8.8 times this year's EBITDA estimates. Getting what you pay for As it stands now, it appears that investors are paying fairly for what they're getting. Viking's less-risky business model and lower debt load have led to a much higher valuation. And since it's in a better balance sheet position, it's also able to expand capacity faster than Carnival, as evidenced by last quarter's growth rates. Meanwhile, Carnival looks cheaper on all metrics, significantly so, but it also has a debt load nearly twice that of Viking's relative to each company's EBITDA. And because it has to pay down its debt, management isn't expanding capacity as fast as it probably would otherwise. Thus, each stock could still be a buy if you believe in the continued strength of the cruise industry. Viking may be the better play for growth-oriented investors, with its near-25% growth rate and relatively lower risk. But for value investors, Carnival may be the better play here, as its lower valuation could get a rerating as the company continues to pay down its sizable COVID-era debt load, which would de-risk its story. Do the experts think Carnival Corp. is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Carnival Corp. make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,070% vs. just 184% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 885.55%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Carnival Corp. and Viking. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Best Stock to Buy Right Now: Carnival Corporation vs. Viking Holdings was originally published by The Motley Fool
Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Washington Post
US seeks shipbuilding expertise from South Korea and Japan to counter China
WASHINGTON — American lawmakers are using a trip to South Korea and Japan to explore how the United States can tap those allies' shipbuilding expertise and capacity to help boost its own capabilities , which are dwarfed by those of China. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., who are scheduled to land in Seoul on Sunday before traveling to Japan, plan to meet top shipbuilders from the world's second- and third-largest shipbuilding countries. The senators want to examine the possibilities of forming joint ventures to construct and repair noncombatant vessels for the U.S. Navy in the Indo-Pacific and bring investments to American shipyards.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
US seeks shipbuilding expertise from South Korea and Japan to counter China
WASHINGTON (AP) — American lawmakers are using a trip to South Korea and Japan to explore how the United States can tap those allies' shipbuilding expertise and capacity to help boost its own capabilities, which are dwarfed by those of China. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., who are scheduled to land in Seoul on Sunday before traveling to Japan, plan to meet top shipbuilders from the world's second- and third-largest shipbuilding countries. The senators want to examine the possibilities of forming joint ventures to construct and repair noncombatant vessels for the U.S. Navy in the Indo-Pacific and bring investments to American shipyards. 'We already have fewer capacity now than we did during Operation Iraqi Freedom" in 2003, Duckworth told The Associated Press. 'We have to rebuild the capacity. At the same time, what capacity we have is aging and breaking down and taking longer and more expensive to fix.' Their trip comes as President Donald Trump demands a plan to revive U.S. shipyards and engage foreign partners. The Pentagon is seeking $47 billion for shipbuilding in its annual budget. The urgency stems from the fact that Washington severely lags behind China in building naval ships, a situation raising alarms among policymakers who worry the maritime balance of power could shift to China, now the world's No. 1 shipbuilder. Duckworth, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she hopes the trip could lead to joint ventures among the U.S. military, American companies and foreign partners to build auxiliary vessels for the Navy and small boats for the Army. Another possibility is repairing U.S. ships in the Indo-Pacific region. 'If we have to bring ships all the way back to the United States ... to wait two years to be fixed, that doesn't help the situation,' Duckworth said. The discussions, she said, will focus on auxiliary vessels, which are noncombatant ships such as fueling and cargo vessels that support naval and military operations. The Navy's auxiliary fleet is aging and insufficient in numbers, she said. The U.S. commercial shipbuilding accounted for 0.1% of global capacity in 2024, while China produced 53%, followed by South Korea and Japan, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A Navy review from April 2024 found that many of its major shipbuilding programs were one year to three years behind schedule. During the trip, the senators are expected to meet representatives from major shipbuilders in the region. South Korea and the U.S. are already making progress on shipbuilding cooperation. In March, Hanwha Ocean completed maintenance work for a 41,000-ton U.S. Navy dry cargo and ammunition ship in South Korea. The overhaul of USNS Wally Schirra was the Korean company's first project after it secured a repair agreement with the U.S. Navy in July 2024. Hanwha Group last year acquired Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, which builds large merchant mariners, part of the reserve auxiliary fleet. Earlier this month, South Korea proposed to invest $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding industry to support Trump's 'Make American Shipbuilding Great Again' initiative as part of its tariffs talk with the White House. Duckworth said she had earlier conversations with Hyundai Heavy Industries 'about them actually buying into U.S. shipyards on U.S. soil'. This month, China formed the world's biggest shipbuilding company by merging two state-owned shipbuilders. The combined entity China State Shipbuilding Corporation produces Chinese navy's combat vessels from aircraft carriers to nuclear submarines. It commands 21.5% of global shipbuilding market. Albee Zhang, The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
