Carnival and other cruise stocks get upgrade from Wolfe Research on bookings jump
Early signs of customer demand for the return of vacations at sea should make investors more bullish on cruise stocks, according to Wolfe Research. The cruise industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, with voyages being stopped around the world, but with widespread vaccinations in the U.S., the major companies have plans to resume American operations over the summer . Analyst Greg Badishkanian upgraded Carnival , Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to outperform from peer perform, saying in a note to clients on Wednesday that early indications pointed to a strong restart for the industry. "Our checks suggest improving booking / pricing trends out of North America over the past month, with stronger trends over the past week. While there is some lingering uncertainty surrounding the U.S. restart (CDC / Florida, etc.), we view those unknowns as largely transitory when viewed against the broader reopening backdrop," the note said. Bookings and demand are running ahead of pre-pandemic levels, according to Wolfe. "Cumulative 2022 bookings are now up approx. +10% to +15% versus 2019 levels with signs of improving 1Q demand (especially in January). Pricing is up in the +15% to 25% range vs. 2019 before factoring in [future cruise credits]," the note said. Wolfe has price targets of $32 per share for Carnival, $96 for Royal Caribbean and $36 for Norwegian. Those represent upside of roughly 12%, 8% and 17%, respectively. -CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

The Carnival Liberty cruise ship is seen after docking to allow crew members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at Port Canaveral, the first U.S. port to sponsor COVID-19 vaccine distribution to port workers and vessel crew members. Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images