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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jim Cramer Recommends Royal Caribbean Cruises Over Viking Holding (VIK)
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. A caller asked for Cramer's thoughts on Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK), and he replied: 'Okay, I like Viking, but I thought they were tepid when they came on, and therefore I'm going to send you to Royal. I think RCL is now the gold standard, and that's the one I want to own.' Viking (NYSE:VIK) provides transport services for travelers and offers tourism experiences that include guided tours and other activities for its guests. Moreover, on March 14, Cramer was bullish on the company as he said: 'Regular viewers know I am a big fan of the cruise lines… Viking's a unique player with an impressive focus on rich American baby boomers. We watched with glee as Viking stock glided higher and higher and higher throughout last year and even the first few weeks of 2025, eventually it peaked at 53 bucks and change in early February just before the market-wide sell-off. Since then, the stock's fallen back to $40, down roughly 25% from its highs just over a month ago… The cruise lines are different from other travel plays. They represent incredible value versus traditional vacation alternatives…For Viking in particular, we have a fresher company-specific catalyst. On Tuesday morning, the company reported an excellent quarter with in-line revenue and impressive 9-cent earnings beat off a 36-cent basis… Overall, VIK ranks 5th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of VIK as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's Why Viking Holdings (VIK) is a Strong Momentum Stock
For new and old investors, taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals. Many investors also have a go-to methodology that helps guide their buy and sell decisions. One way to find winning stocks based on your preferred way of investing is to use the Zacks Style Scores, which are indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing types: value, growth, and momentum. For momentum investors, upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook take precedent, so they'll want to zero in on the Momentum Style Score. This Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates. Viking Holdings Ltd, which went public in May 2024, is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda. The initial public offering of Viking Holdings was a successful one, raising $1.54 billion at around $24 per share. The new investment into the company was $245.5 million, accounting for 16% of the total funds raised. The company focuses on passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom and internationally. Viking targets English-speaking travelers aged above 55 years. The company's cruises do not allow guests under 18 years old. VIK sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), holds a Momentum Style Score of A, and has a VGM Score of B. The stock is down 7% and up 5.5% over the past one-week and four-week period, respectively, and Viking Holdings has gained 47.5% in the last one-year period as well. Additionally, an average of 2,370,881 shares were traded over the last 20 trading sessions. Momentum investors also pay close attention to a company's earnings. For VIK, two analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.02 to $2.39 per share for 2025. VIK boasts an average earnings surprise of 12.5%. Investors should take the time to consider VIK for their portfolios due to its solid Zacks Ranks, notable earnings metrics, and impressive Momentum and VGM Style Scores. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Viking Holdings Ltd. (VIK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
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Q1 2025 Viking Holdings Ltd Earnings Call
Carola Mengolini; Vice President, Investor Relations; Viking Holdings Ltd Torstein Hagen; Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer; Viking Holdings Ltd Leah Talactac; President, Chief Financial Officer; Viking Holdings Ltd Linh Banh; Executive Vice President - Finance; Viking Holdings Ltd Steve Wieczynski; Analyst; Stifel Financial Corp. Matthew Boss; Analyst; JPMorgan Stephen Grambling; Analyst; Morgan Stanley Robin Farley; Analyst; UBS James Hardiman; Analyst; Citigroup Inc. Assia Georgieva; Analyst; Infinity Research Patrick Scholes; Analyst; Truist Securities, Inc. Brandt Montour; Analyst; Barclays Connor Cunningham; Analyst; Melius Research Meredith Jensen; Analyst; HSBC Xian Siew; Analyst; BNP Paribas Exane Operator Good morning. My name is Paul, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Viking's first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the program to your host for today's conference, Vice President of Investor Relations, Carola Mengolini. Carola Mengolini Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Viking's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I am joined by Tor Hagen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Leah Talactac, President and Chief Financial Officer. Also available during the Q&A session is Linh Banh, Executive Vice President of Finance. Before we get started, please note our cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information. During the call, management may discuss information that is forward-looking and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results to be different than those expressed or implied. Please evaluate the forward-looking information in the context of these factors, which are detailed in today's press release as well as in our filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements are as of today, and we assume no obligation to update or supplement these statements. We may also refer to certain non-IFRS financial metrics, which are reconciled and described in our press release, posted on our Investor Relations website at Tor and Leah will provide a strategic overview of the company, a recap of our first quarter results and an update of the current booking environment. We will then open the call for your questions. To supplement today's call, we have prepared an earnings presentation that is available on our Investor Relations website. With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Tor. Torstein Hagen Thank you, Corola, and good morning, everyone. We are very pleased to share that our momentum has carried into the first quarter of 2025, building on the strong performance we delivered last year. As shown on slide 3, this morning, we published great results for the first quarter, which included a 7.1% increase in net yields amid a capacity increase of 14.9% over last year. Overall, we had a busy first quarter driven by additional capacity and strong demand that led to almost $900 million of revenue. Notably, revenue for the first quarter is almost 3 times higher than what we generated in 2019, which is something worth highlighting. We believe that this reflects the strong demand for our product and the disciplined execution of our growth strategy. Today, we also updated you on our booking curves. We continue to experience strong demand for our core products with 92% of our 2025 capacity already sold. As most of you know, our load factor never reaches 100%. While we only allow two guests per cabin, sometimes our guests travel alone. On the cabin occupancy basis, we are generally 1 to 2 percentage points higher. This means that we are practically sold out for 2025. To this end, our focus is on 2026, which is off to a great start with 37% of our core capacity PCDs already sold as of May 11. I will talk more about this when we review the bookings. Having said this, and given the current macroeconomic landscape, I'd also like to provide an update on how bookings are trending. When we last met in mid-March, we noted that January was the best booking month in the history of the company. We can also say that this was the best wave season in our history with more guests booked and at higher pricing. Since wave, we are pleased to say this momentum has continued. Specifically, given 2025 is practically sold, and we look to future seasons, bookings in April and May are up year over year. In fact, May is also an outstanding start with the last few weeks showing good booking strength. This gives us comfort that our guests continue to prioritize travel and experiences. Building on this positive trajectory, I would like to touch on broader macroeconomic environment. As some uncertainty still persist, as most of you know, most of our operations are based in and conducted from Europe. This insulates us from many of the trade tensions affecting other regions. To this end, the direct impact on Viking's operations should be minimal. Additionally, the same applies to our shipbuilding activities, as our ocean ships and the majority of our river ships are constructed in European shipyards. Moreover, on slide 4, we are highlighting several of our unique strengths. These are attributes that we believe are especially relevant and compelling in today's environment. First, our advanced booking curves and long booking window provide exceptional visibility. While many companies are still focused on selling the current 2025 season, we are largely sold out. Also, our cancellation rates are in line with prior years. As we mentioned in the past, our bookings are very sticky. So with the current season effectively done and with more than 37% of the 2026 capacity are already booked, we are in a great position. We have plenty of time to complete the 2026 season. Which leads me to our effect direct marketing engine. Our model enables us to generate demand proactively, communicating directly with the consumer. We stimulate demand by investing in targeted marketing by preserving the integrity of our pricing. This includes expanding the reach to high potential and loyal guests and refining our best campaigns. It also involves enhancing our digital platforms. So they're upgrading our booking engines to deliver a faster and more personalized experience. Moreover, we also empower our sales teams to focus on emphasizing the quality and value of our product rather than competing on price. As we mentioned in the past, our product is highly rated, while also providing a compelling value proposition. This in turn leads to our target customers. We believe that our success is rooted in a clear and disciplined strategy. It centers on targeting a defined customer demographic and an exceptionally loyal guest buyers. These customers compared to the average consumer have greater financial stability and more time to travel. They also have a strong desire to explore the world and prioritize experiences, even when the broader markets soften. While past performance does not guarantee future behavior, this group has historically shown resilience during economic downturns, maintaining their propensity to travel. I will also highlight a strong balance sheet. With a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2 times and minimal near-term maturities, we are in solid financial position. This gives us both stability and flexibility, allowing us to navigate volatility with confidence, while continuing to invest in our long-term growth strategies. And lastly, what I can share is that over the past 20 years, whenever we have faced economic dislocation, our response has consistently been contrarian and opportunistic, led by a seasoned, well-tested management team. So while we remain mindful of broader economic signals, we continue to have strong confidence in the resilience of our business model and our guests. We are well positioned as we focus on generating increased profitable demand for 2026 and beyond. Before I turn on to Leah, I want to close these remarks with a few highlights from this past quarter. These are on slide number 5. This past April, we announced details about the Viking Libra. The world's first hydrogen-powered cruise ship. This ship will be fitted with a hybrid propulsion system based partially on liquefied hydrogen and fuels that they will make her capable of operating with zero emissions. We have always believed in doing what is right for the environment, and we are very proud of this announcement. The Viking Libra is currently under construction and set for delivery next year. We also ordered two additional ocean ships for delivery in 2031. Based on the committed order book, we now expect to take delivery of 11 additional ocean ships by 2031. As you can see, we are confident of the great opportunity that the ocean segment represents. And lastly, this past quarter we took the Vikings Nerthus, a river vessel that sails on the Seine River. France is a destination of great interest to our guests. And this ship does a wonderful itinerary through Paris and the heart of Normandy. With that, I will turn to Leah to discuss our financials. Leah Talactac Thank you, Tor, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased to have reported a great first quarter. On a consolidated basis, total revenue for the quarter increased 24.9% year-over-year to almost $900 million. The year-over-year increase was mainly driven by increased capacity, higher occupancy and higher revenue per PCDs. Adjusted gross margin increased 23.8% year-over-year to $613 million, resulting in a net yield of $544, 7.1% higher than the first quarter of 2024. Vessel expenses, excluding fuel per capacity PCDs decreased 2.3% this quarter compared to the same time last year. I will note that capacity increased almost 15% this quarter which helped bring down some fixed costs when calculated on a dollar per capacity PCD basis. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter totaled $73 million, improving more than $77 million when compared to the same quarter last year. This significant year-over-year increase was mainly driven by higher revenues in both the ocean and river segment. It is also remarkable that the adjusted EBITDA was positive this quarter, since the first quarter has typically been negative due to the seasonality of our business. Net loss and adjusted net loss attributable to Viking Holdings Limited was $105 million, and adjusted EPS was a loss of $0.24, which is an improvement of $0.09 from the first quarter of 2024. I will now briefly discuss our two reportable segments, river and ocean and these are on slide 8. For the river segment, our capacity PCDs increased 22.3% year-over-year mainly driven by the addition of two new ships for Egypt delivered in 2024 and additional European ceilings. Occupancy for the period was 93.9%, about 180 basis points higher than last year. Adjusted gross margin grew 21.5% year-over-year and net yield was $593, down 2.7% year-over-year. As we have mentioned in the past, a primary sailing season for our river product runs from April to October. Therefore, our first quarter metrics are not necessarily representative of the full year. For ocean, capacity PCDs increased 10.4% year-over-year, mainly due to the addition of the Viking Vela in December 2024. Occupancy for the period was 94.4% in line with last year. Adjusted gross margin increased 25.3% year-over-year to $395 million and net yield was $499, up 13.6%, compared to the previous year. The increase in net yield was primarily due to the mix in deployment where we increased European itineraries and specifically because in 2025, we only had one world cruise versus two in 2024. As mentioned in the past, the world cruise itinerary typically has lower than average net yields. Excluding these cruises, our net yield for the first quarter of 2025 increased by high single-digits compared to 2024. Now moving to the balance sheet and on slide 9, you can see that as of March 31, 2025, we had total cash and cash equivalents of $2.8 billion and we also have an undrawn revolver facility of $375 million. Our net debt was $2.9 billion and to this end, our net leverage improved from 2.4 times as of December 31, 2024, to a ratio of 2 times as of March 31, 2025. As of March 31, 2025, deferred revenue was $4.8 billion. Also on slide 9, you can see our bond maturity outlook, which includes one bond maturity due in May 2025. Please note that the company paid this at its maturity. Therefore, all maturities are in 2027 and beyond. With this, I'd like to confirm our debt amortization for 2025 and 2026. As of March 31, 2025, the scheduled principal payments for the remainder of 2025 were $439 million and [$217 million] for full year 2026. After March 31, 2025, during the month of May, we paid $250 million of the scheduled principal payments. From a committed capital expenditure perspective and for full year 2025, the total expected committed ship CapEx is about $850 million or $440 million net of financing. And for the full year 2026, the total expected committed ship CapEx is about $1.1 billion or $140 million net of financing. The main drivers of the total committed ship CapEx for 2026 are two ocean ships, Viking Nira and Viking Libra, which are scheduled for delivery in 2026. With that, I'll turn it back to Tor to review our business outlook, including our booking curves. Torstein Hagen Thanks, Leah. Let's now dive into the booking curves, which are all as of May 11, 2025. On slide 11, we show our consolidated metrics for our core products. As you can see, we are in very good shape for both the 2025 and the 2026 seasons. The 2025 season already had 92% of our capacity PCDs booked. Advanced bookings equal $5.5 billion, which is 21% higher than the '24 season at the same point in time, while capacity increased 12%. And for 2026, we are already 37% booked with $2.7 billion of advanced bookings. These are 11% higher than the 2025 season at the same point of time in 2024. Our capacity is increasing by 8% for our core products driven by the full year impact of the ships introduced during 2025 and additional two ocean ships and six river vessels in 2026. Let's now talk about the advanced booking curves for these segments. On the next slide, you will see our curves for the ocean cruises. This is slide 12. I will start with the blue line, which shows the bookings for 2025. Overall, we have sold 91% of our capacity PCDs for the year and have $2.4 billion of advanced bookings, which is 27% higher than last year at the same point in time. Capacity increased by 18%. So you can tell that we have been booking at a very attractive rate. If you now look at the yellow line, you will see the booking trend for the 2026 season. As of May 11, we have sold about 45% of the 2026 capacity for the ocean, which is increasing by 9%. Advanced bookings are 15% higher than last year at the same point in time. Regarding the rates, they equaled $784 compared to $747 for the 2025 season at the same point in time. Now if we move to slide 13, you will see the curve for the river cruises. I will start with advanced bookings for 2025, which is the blue line. As you can see, we're having a great year with 95% of the 2025 capacity already sold as of May 11. We have almost $2.7 billion in advanced bookings, which is 17% higher than last year at this point in time. The operating capacity for rivers increased 7% year-over-year, and rates are equal to $825 compared to $773 in 2024. Like ocean, we have very little sale for 2025, and our teams are now focused on 2026 and beyond. Now looking at the yellow line, these are the advanced bookings for the 2026 season. As you can see, we have sold about $1 billion in advanced bookings, which is 5% higher than the 2025 season at the same point in time. Our operating capacity for river is up 8% year-over-year and 28% of the capacities or result. These are good trends for 2026 with rates equal to $986 compared to $952 in 2025. So overall, these results give us confidence that our core consumer demographic remains financially resilient, prioritizing travel and choosing Viking. Now, Leah will add some color to our order book and capacity. Leah Talactac Thank you, Tor. Now, turning to our order booking capacity, we have several updates since our last earnings call on March 11, 2025. First, we exercised our options and signed contracts for two new ocean ships, both scheduled for delivery in 2031. We also entered into an option agreement for two additional ocean ships, which, if exercised, would be delivered in 2033. Each of these ships will accommodate approximately 998 guests and will be built by Fincantieri, the shipyard that has constructed our entire Viking Ocean fleet. On top of this, we also announced the construction of a new river vessel for Portugal to sail along the [Jaro] River. This will be our sixth vessel on this river, and the delivery is planned for 2027. We believe that these updates reflect our commitment to a disciplined strategic expansion across both our river and ocean offerings. With a great brand and product range, a very strong balance sheet, and strong demand from our loyal customer base, we remain confident in our long-term growth strategy and our ability to deliver exceptional travel experiences around the world. With this, I conclude our prepared remarks. I'll now turn it back to the operator to take questions. Operator (Operator Instructions) Steve Wieczynski, Stifel. Steve Wieczynski Yeah. Hey, guys. Good morning and congratulations on a very solid first quarter there. So Tor or Leah, based on your commentary, it sounds like April and May had pretty solid booking levels. And it does seem -- at this point, it seems like your book position is pretty similar to where it was at this point last year. So if we turn to the pricing side of things, I guess maybe pricing might be a little bit, I'd say, maybe a little bit lower versus where you guys were last year. So I'm just trying to figure out have you guys had to start going down the route of using promotions or discounting techniques or anything like that in order to drive bookings right now or is that just not the case? Leah Talactac Hi, good morning, Steve, thanks for the question. So we have not -- as far as future seasons, we have not turned to pricing promotions. I just wanted to level set that the pricing dynamics is pretty nuanced. And also, we are comparing to a year 2025 that was pretty steep, and we acknowledged that it was pretty steep. So the pricing yield curve really is dependent on what inventory has been sold, meaning what season, whether it's high or low, what cabin category and what itinerary mix. So what we are seeing with almost 40% of our 2026 capacity being sold as of May 11 is that our consumer is very resilient and they are willing to travel and they are willing to book in advance. So when we look at the current macroeconomic outlook, if it remains steady and if we combine that with a strong trajectory of demand in recent weeks that we've seen, we feel pretty confident that pricing will evolve toward mid single-digit increases alongside our plant capacity growth. So we don't see a concern there. Steve Wieczynski Okay. Thanks for that. And then second question, I guess, maybe just in terms of the booking window. Obviously, you guys have a very elongated booking window gives you a lot of visibility into the next 12 months or so. But I guess the question here is have you seen any material changes in that booking window. And I guess I'm just trying to figure out, obviously, January looks strong for you guys. February, where there was a little bit of a change. April, May look good. So just trying to figure out how we should think about the booking window at this point? And have you really seen any changes to that? Leah Talactac Sure. No. We have not seen any changes to the booking window. It's similar. Our percent sold compared to prior years is similar. Operator Matthew Boss, JPMorgan. Matthew Boss Great thanks and congrats on the continued momentum. So maybe just first, if you could elaborate on pricing relative to demand across river versus ocean or maybe just speak to drivers of the diverging net yield growth in the first quarter? And then it sounds like from your commentary, that's not representative of how to think about the rest of the year. But maybe if we could just walk through first quarter divergence relative to the progression we should expect across segments for the balance of the year and just what's driving it? Leah Talactac Yeah. So I think we've seen this in prior years where the ocean curve because it does operate full year, it may look like it is booking at higher rates and faster. We have to remember that the river season really doesn't operate until the second quarter. And so, what you'll see over time is that as the booking the booking window for the future season starts to mature that the river curve will then start to also accelerate or go up as we start getting closer to when the river season starts. But Linh, I don't know if you want to provide additional color. Linh Banh Sure. So actually, I just want to clarify your question one more time. So are you referring to the '25 season or the '26 season? Matthew Boss The first quarter net yields? And then how to think about the remainder of the year across segments? Linh Banh Got it. So I think first quarter for us is different, right? So we do have seasonality for rivers and ocean does operate year-round. So we have two different things going on. So for rivers, because it does have seasonality, the first quarter does not have as much capacity as our second, third, fourth quarter. So you'll see that first quarter is not actually reflective of the full year. Similar to rivers or ocean, the first quarter 2025, we had one world cruise compared to two world cruises in the first quarter of 2024. So really, I would point us back to the curves. The curve show our full season and with river's 95% booked, you can see where yields are or rates are? And for ocean similarly, we're 91% booked, and we see where rates are today. So that really shows how we think our season will progress for the rest of the year. Matthew Boss That's great color. And maybe, Leah, just on the bottom line, as we think about EBITDA margins roughly 200 basis points above 2019 today, just help us to think about maybe structural changes in your model relative to pre-pandemic on the margin side? And how best to think about margin flow-through as we think about the model moving forward? Leah Talactac Sure. So as we think through the margins, we will continue to achieve growth on capacity as you could see from our order book. We also have not that past performance is indicative future, but we have been able to achieve mid single-digit growth while we're increasing capacity. And then we also leverage how we manage our expenses to achieve strong EBITDA growth. Operator Stephen Grambling, Morgan Stanley. Stephen Grambling Hey. Thank you. It's pretty remarkable to hear how resilient the consumer has been getting anything going on and no need to promote or take price at this point. So I'm curious to hear what you would typically be on the lookout for that could change the demand trajectory. And then how you think about the levers that you have at your disposal to pull, if you did see some change in the trend, meaning would you generally be more looking to increase marketing, change promotions or perhaps more aggressive use of the balance sheet or shore up liquidity. Thank you. Leah Talactac Yeah. Sure. So as far as what are our signals. So it's really the booking pace. I think we can get pretty quick indications whether or not the booking pace changes. It's something that we monitor rather closely. And at the end of the day, it's really what Tor outlined in what makes us different is that it's our strong direct marketing approach. And so, our first lever would be to engage the consumer directly to stimulate that demand. It would not be a pricing lever. So Tor, I don't know if you have something else that you'd like to add to that? Torstein Hagen No. I think that's important. It's marketing first, and we haven't had any need to do anything on pricing. We have the strong database and a long booking window. We are really in an excellent position to handle also 2026. Stephen Grambling And I guess two very quick follow-ups on that. First, on the indication on the trajectory, would you generally think that you'd see that booking change in river or ocean first or second or would it be coincident? And then on the marketing, I guess, that would generally be something that we would see, for example, in the year, but for potentially next year, right? So if we were to see something for 2026, we'd start to see that this year. Thanks. Leah Talactac Yeah. That's right. So we would see the booking pattern change would occur in both. So like you said in the past, we operate Viking with one brand. And so, we are agnostic as to where the book river or ocean. So we would look at both segments to see if there's any softness, but we are not seeing any at this point in time. The momentum has been very good. So, from all indications, we're pretty positive about the future. Operator Robin Farley, UBS. Robin Farley Great. Thank you. I just wanted to go back to your comment about you feel like if things continue at this pace that you would get to mid single-digit yields for next year. I guess when we look at the last year, how booked revenue per passenger cruise day tracked. It seemed like it was kind of a normal thing that it would tick down sometimes 200 or 300 basis points going from mid August, August to November for 2025 and then it sort of has held at that plus [7%]. I guess why would 2026 -- we don't have lots of years of seeing how that tracked, but you have talked about the higher-priced stuff selling first. And so, that it's kind of normal for the booked revenue per passenger cruise day that rate of growth to kind of tick down. So just wanted to understand why the sort of the plus 4%, why would we not see that tick down? Or what would make that tick up because that sounds like that would be different than kind of what your normal curve looks like. So I just want to understand what's happening with '26. Thank you. Leah Talactac Yeah. Sure. Hi, Robin. So the booking curve will develop for the remainder is pretty nuanced. So it really depends -- we dynamically price the remainder of the season based on demand. So we've always dynamically priced. And so, for the 2025 season, it happened to develop that way based on what we were seeing in the marketplace. There have been instances in the past in which year-over-year comparisons have increased. So for example, in 2024, for oceans within the similar time frame that we're talking right now for '26, advanced bookings per PCD was 4%. And then by the time the year developed, it increased to 7%. So it's not necessarily a rule of thumb that yields will tick down 3% to 4%. There have been years where it will go up because we dynamically price and we don't operate in a static environment. So from all indications, given the demand that we're seeing and if macroeconomics remain stable, we feel confident that we could maintain this mid single-digit yield growth. We've done it in the past during disruptions. So with the management team that we have in place, our direct marketing approach and the fact that we will not take pricing actions as our first line of defense and softness in the market, which we're not seeing today. We feel optimistic at this point in time. Robin Farley Thanks. And just to follow up to that if I could. When you mentioned the ocean for 2024, I guess that was like sort of in 2023, how '24 was tracking. How did river, in other words, did river exhibit the same thing? Did river tick up or down in that same period? And then also the other follow-up, is there something about the mix in 2026 that would make it behave differently than 2025 in terms of picking up rather than taking down or there. Is it mix issues, whether it's ocean versus river or certain itineraries or what makes it different versus last year? Thanks. Linh Banh Sure, Robin. It's Linh. So I mean, at the end of the day, each curve will be different for rivers and oceans depending on deployment, depending on what itineraries, what's been sold and what is available for sale. We've seen instances for both rivers and oceans in the past, in which when we're looking at year-over-year rate increases, we've seen that increase over time. So we can't necessarily just take 2025 and say that's rule of thumb, as Leah just said, really because we dynamically price and we consider what's occurring in the economy, what we're seeing from our consumer, which right now, we're seeing quite good demand, we will ensure we always price the demand. Operator James Hardiman, Citi. James Hardiman Hi. Good morning. So I wanted to stay on Robin's line of questioning with regards to the 2026 curve. I mean it sounds like you feel confident that instead of that decel in the pricing that will be sort of the same or better as we move forward and I understand the idea of dynamic pricing. I guess can you maybe give us an example of how you're thinking about strategically why a year ago pricing would have decelerated and from here it might accelerate, particularly as everybody feels like the economy today is a little bit dicier than it was a year ago. And I guess to that point, even looking at the curves, it seems like it's already happening, right? I mean, the river curve, when I look at that curve for 2026, when we were in the two years prior to sailing. We were beneath the 2025 curve, and we've now accelerated to being ahead of it. Ocean seems like it was more in line and now it's ahead. So it sounds like we're already seeing some of that acceleration, just trying to understand what are the market conditions that are ultimately driving that? Linh Banh So that's right. I mean, I think we've said it, we're seeing it definitely in April, May. We've seen a strong momentum as we look to future season. You see the uptick for rivers and similarly for oceans in the '26 season in the last couple of months. I mean our curves are quite advanced. And I think from where we're sitting and what we're seeing, we are quite pleased that our consumers continue to book, and we're sold out for 2025 for the most part and almost 40% sold out for 2026. So I mean, we understand the question about the curves, but I think at the end of the day, our curves actually show the strength of our consumer and our brand. Not many can sit here in May of 2025 and already said that they have 37% of their capacity booked for the next year. And I think we said this in the past, and we'll reiterate it, our bookings are quite sticky. So we do have great revenue visibility. With the booking momentum we are seeing and what we've definitely seen in the last few weeks, which has been quite strong, we feel really good about 2026. James Hardiman Fair enough. And then one of your peers, if you have any peers, I guess, is open for debate, but called out the idea that there's some hesitation of American consumers traveling to Europe. I mean, I think you've essentially answered this question because that is very much Europe consumer. But maybe speak to if you're seeing any differences in terms of how your consumer is thinking about where they want to go, particularly as we think about recent bookings, which are going to be late '25 and into '26. Thanks. Linh Banh Sure. No. I mean I think you hit it right on the head. Like our deployment is head of Europe. I think about 70% of our itineraries operate in Europe, and you could see from our curves practically sold out for 2025, '26 is 37% sold. So we are not seeing any issues ourselves rather the opposite. We do see strong consumer demand for our itineraries. Operator Assia Georgieva, Infinity Research. Assia Georgieva Good morning. Congratulations on a great quarter and a great outlook. At Infinity, we track about 95% of pricing for the global cruise industry, and I think that figure is actually higher for Viking. And just looking at our pricing curves which look very similar for 2026 relative to what you had in the presentation. So I had a little bit of a question here in terms of possible timing or seasonality because it seems that since the start of wave to the first week of March, your pricing was consistently higher and that was probably the peak, which makes sense. This was core wave season. And in the subsequent weeks, especially in the last four weeks since April through this past Friday, your pricing seems to be ticking down by about 1% or so on a sequential basis. Is this due to seasonality, a slower booking time frame? It also coincides with the macroeconomic shock, if you will, with tariffs. So I wondered whether any of these factors would play in? And as a follow-up, should we expect an usual uptick if you've seen that historically in the fall of '25 for 2026 bookings. Is that how your booking curves would usually work? Thank you so much. Linh Banh I don't think we can verify your data, but what we can say is about our own and what we're seeing and what we're seeing is our pricing remains quite good. We are up year-over-year. I think if you look at our 2025 season, we last reported in May. And as we report today, our pricing has remained relatively strong. For rivers especially, we were 5% ahead at the last call, and now we're 7% ahead. So that in all indications to us, our pricing is holding, which is great. And as we just mentioned throughout the call that the last few weeks have given us great confidence as we look into the future. Assia Georgieva Thank you. And would you expect an uptick in booking activity later in the year or is it generally wave season and then stable throughout the balance of the year historically? Linh Banh I mean, I think this goes back to what Leah mentioned. If the outlook remains steady, combined with what we've seen in the last few weeks, we feel good about pricing, and we do feel that we can evolve to a mid single-digit increase along with our capacity increases. Leah Talactac I think if I could just add to that. So we do sell throughout the year, and that goes back to our direct marketing. And there have been instances where we may open up a season earlier just to capture that demand. So it really depends on what we're seeing in the consumer behavior and what the consumer would like. But generally speaking, we do sell -- wave season is wave season, but we continue to market throughout the year. Operator Patrick Scholes, Truist Securities. Patrick Scholes Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. A couple of questions here for you. I understand that you haven't done anything as far as lowering price as far as promotions. But how about other types of promotional activities such as add-ons, booking incentives, cabin upgrades, et cetera. Has there been any changes this spring versus historically what you're doing this time of the year as far as those incentives to get people to book. Thank you. Torstein Hagen Maybe I can take that. I think, again, we have said it before, our marketing methods is mainly to market more, and we try to shy away from search things. So there is no change in that. Patrick Scholes Okay. So no change to promotional activity versus this time of year. Okay. Second question here, I just want to be clear, and I think I got the -- you had basically implied or said that in April, you saw no softness whatsoever only accelerating booking trends. Did I understand that correctly as far as bookings. Thank you. Leah Talactac Yeah. That's right. Operator Brandt Montour, Barclays. Brandt Montour Good morning, everybody. (technical difficulty) Operator Apologies, Brandt. Apologies for interrupting. We're unable to hear you, just wondering if you could shift your position a little bit. Your line is not coming through clear. Brandt Montour Okay. Sorry about that. So Leah and Tor, when you look at your bookings cadence throughout the quarter, and you were watching, I'm sure like everybody else the macro volatility and the news around tariffs and gauging your customer reaction to those tariffs, what was your strategy in regards to that dynamic pricing that you were able to do or were able to pull levers and things like that to be able to keep that bookings cadence going. Leah Talactac So we have said many times that our first lever would be to directly engage the consumer in order to stimulate demand. So what we can say is that what we wanted to do during the wave season is to close out 2025. So you can see we're 92% booked effectively that means we're sold out so that we can focus our engagement with the consumer for the 2026 and forward season. And when we executed that strategy, we did see the consumer response so that April and May bookings were very strong and it shows our consumer resilience. It shows that when we engage with them directly, they do respond in kind and then they start to book because they do want to travel. They are less impacted by feelings of unemployment or what's happening in the macroeconomic and that resulted in the booking curves that you see today. Brandt Montour Okay. And then when the Ukraine war started, I think you had multiple vessels that were in laid up in Russia that were written off. If there was some solving of that geopolitical situation and you were able to stand up Russia. How ready are those ships to get back into service? What would be the lag there? And how much of, I don't know, capacity or revenue percentage would that represent for you today? Torstein Hagen Well, we have kept the ship safe, so to speak. We have five ships in Russia and one in Ukraine, and we will be ready to go on I think it's more a matter of when would Americans like to go to Russia and Ukraine. All my past history says that one thing that we all like to go to these places. So we are really ready to go with them. They will help our contribution to EBITDA, no doubt about it. And it's as I've expressed several times, the cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg is probably my favorite cruise, but there we are. We hope this will be over soon. Operator Connor Cunningham, Melius Research. Connor Cunningham Hi, everyone. Thank you. Last year, we spent a lot of time talking about potentially changing how the booking curve would look basically holding back bookings in advance. And when you look at the '26 book position. It doesn't seem like that was implemented, but maybe it was. I think that the opportunity was more on having more inventory for wave. So if you could just talk about how your booking management system is as being tweaked right now, that would be helpful. Thank you. Linh Banh I mean, I wouldn't say we said we would hold back inventory. I think as we look to our booking curves, and how it trends and what's going on in the economy and consumer sentiment, we use all those factors to play into how we price, and our revenue management system is designed to dynamically priced. So as we see things shift, we may move prices up. And I think we saw that with reverse for 2025. We're up 2% in rates in the last couple of months, which is a good reflection of what we've seen in the marketplace. And I think that's something we will continue for 2026. Where we are our booking momentum, we will continue to use all the factors, including our curves to determine how we dynamically price. Connor Cunningham Okay. And then there's obviously been a lot of talk of price on this call, but your unit costs were actually quite good in 1Q. Could you just talk about how you're managing costs in the '25 and '26. It just seems like the opportunity to maintain a spread between cost and price will remain wide as you go into like the end of this year and into next. So if you could just talk about the cost side of the equation, I think that, that would be helpful. Thank you. Linh Banh Sure. Please, Tor, go ahead. Torstein Hagen Yeah. Maybe I could make a comment about the design of our vessels. I think we have made that point a few times that both the river vessels and the ocean vessels are very efficiently designed so that we can, for example, in the river vessels, we take 190 guests whereas most competitors take 164. We have been able to utilize the footprint much better. So that, of course, makes us more resilient also when it comes to any inflationary pressures. So we are really in very good shape on the design of the vessel, same on the ocean vessels. No unnecessary things no casinos, no bath tubs. So you can say we have a very efficient vessel. And we have a very good -- when I say good crew to passenger ratio, it means that we manage to get away with a fewer crew than many others and still deliver the best service. So we are really quite well positioned. Connor Cunningham Thank you. But is the view that you'll actually be able to bend it negative, like there still were some inefficiencies as we were kind of coming out of the pendamic. Like is there an opportunity to get a little bit better on the cost side in general from a margin-driving standpoint? Linh Banh I mean, I think our approach to cost management is really focused on a strong internal discipline. I mean we are committed to enhancing our margins, and we should see some leverage from scale, which is mostly in our SG&A line. But we do want to iterate that we will make the right investments into our product to ensure that our product remains the quality it is. That being said, we are prudent with the expenses. And so, we've done a good job thus far managing expenses, and we will continue to do so. Operator Meredith Jensen, HSBC. Meredith Jensen Good morning. I was hoping you could speak a little bit about the business outside of Europe in terms of both North America with expeditions as well as in Southeast Asia, as you introduce more ships in the (inaudible) et cetera, and how that might impact or smooth on seasonality and look at sort of the itinerary length and pricing for those itineraries. Thank you. Torstein Hagen My colleagues are pointing to me. It's a little bit difficult because I'm in Shanghai today. We are at a Shanghai office, where I think we have a very interesting opportunity. It takes time, but we are in a unique position. As you know, we have four ships operating on the rivers in Europe to Chinese staff on the catering side, Chinese foods, Chinese language. And I think we have a very unique opportunity here. It takes time, but that's one of the areas we are focusing (multiple speakers) Meredith Jensen Can you talk a little bit about the Viking Libra and how this design and step towards improved sustainability for the industry. It can have not just for the environment but operational benefits for you and it aligns with broader industry trends. If you mind just speaking a little bit more about what you're thinking there. Torstein Hagen As you know, we have spent a lot of time and effort on studying what are the best propulsion solutions for the future. And we'll never know what propulsion will eventually decide often that decide wrong, but we know at least that theoretically, the LNG solution has not been a good one. And everybody will agree that hydrogen is a clean fuel. And in our case, it is we will base ourselves on hydrogen fuel cells. We can't base ourselves on a full ship on propel like this, but we will have at least so that we can go in and out of Norwegian parts and be a good corporate citizen. So I think maybe it's a little bit early, but I think it's the right step to show a direction that things can be done and that it can have true zero emission and not only PR zero emission vessels which others are. So we're very, very proud of it. As a result of the hydrogen, the ship is 10 meters to 11 meters longer than it is and that allows us to put a few more cabins on. So you can say the economics from that are also good on the new ships. Apart from that, the new ships are identical to the old ones. We're very proud of the position we have, and we hope that will be the direction for the future. And if I can complete on the other areas, as you know, we have been on the Mississippi and we are in Mississippi. It has taken time to get it right, but I think we're very proud of what the product we deliver. And we are now moving ahead in Egypt where we have six vessels operate now. I think we'll be up to 10 and the product is unbelievably attractive. Expedition product is also extremely extremely well received. And I think I mentioned that two years ago, I took my first vacation in 27 years in Antartica and in September this year, I'll go to Greenland and going to the Northwest passage on one of our expedition vessels. It's very, very attractive. Now of course, these are smaller things compared to our ocean and river business. But they are very attractive additional segments as we are doing in India, by the way, where we will also be operating a vessel on the Brahmaputra. So I think these things add to the attractiveness of being with we can take people to many different places. Meredith Jensen Thanks so much for the color. That's super helpful and hopefully, we can all make it on one of those too. Thank you, Tor. Operator Xian Siew, BNP Paribas. Xian Siew Hi. Thanks. You mentioned the world towards a bit of a mix benefit to yield in the quarter for ocean as you went from two tours in '24 to one tour in '25. Would this also impact the booking curve in terms of advance bookings for PCD. And maybe this is one reason ocean pricing was so high to start the '25 booking curve before moderating. And then '26, you now have, I think, consistent world tours. Is that something to think about? Linh Banh Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say -- that's definitely along the right line. We did have two world cruises in 2024. So as '25 went out to sell, it did have a greater year-over-year rate increase. So that is definitely a fair point. I think this is where we point back to our curves for rivers and oceans. It does show for the full season. So you could see how or what we would anticipate a season to trend towards from a rate perspective. Operator Thank you. And that does conclude our Q&A session today. I will now turn the conference back over to Tor Hagen, Viking's Chairman and CEO for closing remarks. Torstein Hagen Yeah. Thank you very much for joining us on today's call. As you can tell, we are quite optimistic about this year and next year. But we will meet again in three months' time, and then we'll see what progress has been made. We are very, very optimistic and very proud of what we have accomplished. But thank you very much and have a good day. Operator Thank you. This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
San Francisco Chronicle
20-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Viking: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
PEMBROKE, Bermuda (AP) — PEMBROKE, Bermuda (AP) — Viking Holdings Ltd. (VIK) on Tuesday reported a loss of $105.5 million in its first quarter. The Pembroke, Bermuda-based company said it had a loss of 24 cents per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 26 cents per share. The cruise operator posted revenue of $897.1 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $858.6 million. _____
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Viking: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
PEMBROKE, Bermuda — PEMBROKE, Bermuda — Viking Holdings Ltd. (VIK) on Tuesday reported a loss of $105.5 million in its first quarter. The Pembroke, Bermuda-based company said it had a loss of 24 cents per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 26 cents per share.
