Up Over 3x From Covid Lows, Is Royal Caribbean Stock Still A Buy?

Up Over 3x From Covid Lows, Is Royal Caribbean Stock Still A Buy?

Royal Caribbean stock (NYSE: RCL), the second-largest cruise line operator, has seen its stock largely move sideways in recent weeks, although it remains down by about 4% over the past month, compared to the broader S&P 500, which gained about 2% over the same period. Things are slowing, but surely looking up for the leisure cruising industry, which bore the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. Royal Caribbean resumed sailing from U. S. ports in late June and has indicated its entire fleet of 26 ships will be back in service by early 2022. Ticket pricing is also poised to look up, driven by higher vaccination rates and pent-up demand for cruising, and it's likely that bookings for 2022 could approach or exceed 2019 levels. Covid-19 infections in the U. S. have also been trending steadily lower, after seeing a big surge through the summer, boding well for cruising stocks. So is Royal Caribbean stock a buy at current levels? While the industry is likely to see a strong recovery in the coming months, we think this is largely priced into RCL stock, which has rallied by over 200% from the low of $28 seen in March 2020. In fact, the