Carnival Corporation (CCL - Analyst Report) operates as a cruise and vacation company. The company is one of the largest cruise operators in the world and operates through three segments, North America cruise brands, EAA cruise brands and Cruise Support. Carnival has adopted a strategy to grow beyond its familiar itineraries and capitalize on Asian opportunities.

Strong marketing initiatives have been helping the company to keep its booking strong over the past few years at most of its itineraries, thereby resulting in improvement in revenue yields. Its consistent efforts to reduce fuel consumption have aided the company to generate profits.

Investors should also note the recent earnings estimate revisions for CCL, as the consensus estimate has been almost moving upwards. Moreover, CCL has a decent history in earnings season. Carnival Corp. has delivered positive earnings for four quarters in a row, making for an average earnings surprise of around 144%.

Currently, CCL has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), but this has chances of changing following Carnival Corp.’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings : CCL beat on earnings. Our consensus earnings estimate called for EPS of 16 cents per share, and the company reported EPS of 25 cents per share instead. Investors should note that these figures take out stock option expenses.

Revenues : CCL reported revenues of $3.59 billion. This beat our consensus estimate of 3.54 billion.

Key Stats to Note :On a constant dollar basis, net revenue yields (net revenue per available lower berth day) increased 4.1%, which was better than the company's December guidance of up by 2-3%. Gross revenue yields decreased 3.5% in current dollars, mainly due to changes in currency exchange rates.

Net cruise costs, excluding fuel per ALBD, increased 6.1% in constant dollars primarily due to higher dry-dock costs.

The company increased the lower end of its earnings guidance for 2015 and expects it to be in the range of $2.35 to $2.50, versus the prior outlook of earnings ranging between $2.30 to $2.50 per share.

How the Market Reacted So Far

Following the earnings release, Carnival’s shares were up nearly 0.4% in the pre-trading session. This is much less than what the stock witnessed in the prior-day’s session. The initial reaction doesn’t show whether the investors have considered the results in their favor. However, the full-session’s price movement may give an indication.

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