Some investors just can't be pleased. That seemed to be the dynamic at work this week with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings(NYSE: NCLH), whose stock was sinking this week despite quite a decent quarterly earnings report. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as of early morning Friday the share price was more than 16% underwater week to date.
Negative reaction to generally good news
Norwegian unveiled its first-quarter fundamentals Wednesday morning, and they featured dynamics most investors like. There were marked improvements on the top and bottom lines, with the latter beating the consensus analyst estimate. The company also lifted its net income guidance for full year 2024.
The profitability picture was a bit different with the company's outlook for its current (second) quarter. Management is expecting to post a per-share net income of $0.32, which is only $0.01 above the collective analyst forecast.
In some ways, it seems as if the company was the victim of outsize expectations. Perhaps that isn't so surprising given the persistently high demand in the travel industry in these early years after pandemic lockdowns.
Analysts lowered their price targets
At any rate, sentiment in Norwegian stock wasn't helped by a clutch of price target cuts from several of those analysts -- even though none was drastic.
Susquehanna's Christopher Stathoulopoulos lowered his price target to $18 per share from the previous $21, for example, while maintaining a neutral recommendation. Wells Fargo prognosticator Daniel Politzer also kept his neutral stance in cutting his price target to $19 per share from $21.
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