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Operates cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, sailing large fleets worldwide.
Operates cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, sailing large fleets worldwide.
Takes ticket revenue, mostly paid well before sailing, plus onboard spending on drinks, casino, spa and shore excursions, so the number of full cabins matters most. A newer generation of very large ships, led by Icon of the Seas in 2024, drives capacity growth. It also co-owns TUI Cruises in Germany.
Moat: narrow (scale, brand, installed base). Large modern fleet scale and destination assets (private islands) versus smaller cruise operators.
Headquarters: Miami, Florida, US · Founded: 1968 · Employees: 108,000
Size Royal Caribbean (RCL) is a United States Consumer Discretionary company (Hotels/Resorts/Cruise lines) with a market value of $87.5B, the 152nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $327.16 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 18.9%, against +18.1% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 6 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 9.7% over the last twelve months (peer median +5.8%); the operating margin is 27.0% (peer median 21.2%).
Valuation It trades at 16.4× forward earnings against a peer median of 24.4× (2nd cheapest of 6).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 23% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +52%, so the hurdle is -29 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.6 points below its cost of capital (12.5% WACC).
Credit Royal Caribbean has 12 bonds outstanding ($14.6B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB- at a weighted spread of 116 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 4.5% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 4 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $19.1B | $17.9B | $16.5B | $13.9B | $8.84B |
| Revenue growth | — | +9% | +19% | +57% | — |
| Gross profit | $7.40B | $7.17B | $6.25B | $4.68B | $641M |
| EBITDA | $7.02B | $6.65B | $5.71B | $4.34B | $460M |
| Net income | $4.55B | $4.27B | $2.88B | $1.70B | -$2.16B |
| Free cash flow | $1.51B | $1.24B | $2.00B | $580M | -$2.23B |
| Capital expenditure | $5.39B | $5.23B | $3.27B | $3.90B | $2.71B |
| Total debt | $23.2B | $22.0B | $20.8B | $22.1B | $24.0B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean RCL | $87.5B | +19% | +10% | 27% | 16.4× | 23.2% |
| Carnival CCL | $39.8B | +13% | +5% | 16% | 12.4× | 14.5% |
| Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH | $8.23B | +5% | +5% | 14% | 13.8× | n/a |
| Viking VIK | $39.1B | +6% | +20% | 23% | 24.4× | 19.2% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | RCL | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +16.3% | +13.2% | 2nd highest of 6 |
| 6-month return | +18.9% | +18.1% | 3rd highest of 6 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -7.7% | -3.9% | 3rd lowest of 6 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +9.7% | +5.8% | 3rd highest of 6 |
| Operating margin | 27.0% | 21.2% | highest of 6 |
| Forward P/E | 16.4× | 24.4× | 2nd cheapest of 6 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 23.2% | 17.9% | 2nd most demanding of 6 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +52.0% | +27.0% | highest of 6 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -28.8 pp | -3.9 pp | least demanding of 6 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -0.6 pp | +20.4 pp | 2nd lowest of 5 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.7× | 21.4× | 2nd cheapest of 6 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.2× | 2.7× | 3rd most indebted of 6 |
| Bond spread | 116 bp | 113 bp | 3rd tightest of 5 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean RCL | United States | $87.5B | +19% | +10% | 27% | 16.4× | 23.2% | +52.0% |
| Marriott International MAR | United States | $107B | +18% | +6% | 16% | 32.1× | 17.9% | +19.9% |
| Airbnb ABNB | United States | $114B | +34% | +14% | 21% | 30.7× | 26.0% | +29.5% |
| Carnival CCL | United States | $39.8B | +13% | +5% | 16% | 12.4× | 14.5% | +36.6% |
| Viking VIK | United States | $39.1B | +6% | +20% | 23% | 24.4× | 19.2% | +27.0% |
| InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Sponsored ADR IHG | United States | $25.3B | +19% | +3% | 24% | 23.8× | 12.7% | +16.6% |
Royal Caribbean has 12 bonds outstanding with $14.6B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB-. Weighted yield 5.76%, a spread of 116 bp over government bonds.