3 Cruise Stocks to Buy Now - 8/20

Company: Royal Caribbean (SYM: RCL)

Look at Royal Caribbean (SYM: RCL), for example.

Even with strong booking demand and earnings growth, the stock dropped from about $173 to a recent low of about $130. However, after a strong comeback, it’s now back to $160 and is still oversold at current prices.

Helping, RCL just raised its adjusted earnings per share outlook to a new range of $11.35 to $11.45 from an older range of $10.70 to $10.90. The company even reinstated a 40-cent dividend, payable on Oct. 11. That, coupled with explosive demand makes Royal Caribbean a strong buy at current prices.

Company: Carnival (SYM: CCL)

Oversold at $15.51, Carnival is another one of the top cruise stocks to buy.

For one, the company managed to beat EPS estimates in each of its last seven quarters. Two, in its most recent earnings report, company bookings are at record highs this year and are significantly exceeding 2023 numbers. Three, CCL is already touting record bookings for 2025.

Even better, the company saw customer deposits hit a record high of $8.3 billion in the second quarter, which was $1.1 billion higher than a prior record high.

ETF: Defiance Hotel, Airline and Cruise ETF (SYM: CRUZ)

Or, if you’d rather diversify at a lower cost, there’s the exchange-traded fund Defiance Hotel, Airline, and Cruise (SYM: CRUZ). With an expense ratio of 0.45%, the CRUZ ETF holds 63 top cruise, hotel and airline stocks, including Hilton Worldwide (SYM: HLT) Marriott (SYM: MAR), Royal Caribbean (SYM: RCL), Carnival, Delta Air Lines (SYM: DAL) and Southwest Airlines (SYM: LUV).