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All stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Hotels, Resorts & Cruise Lines

Royal Caribbean Group RCL

Royal Caribbean Group scores average on business quality (5.4 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$282.26Oct 10, 2026
Business qualityAverage
Next earningsOct 27, 2026, before the open
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Royal Caribbean Group does

    Royal Caribbean Cruises operates vacation voyages, selling tickets and onboard amenities to leisure travelers globally. The company is expanding its fleet offerings with new ship additions and entertainment partnerships visible in recent headlines.

  2. What it does best

    Operating margin lands in the top decile of its sector at 94th percentile, beating Marriotts 15.7% and Hiltons 23.4% through dense asset utilization and premium pricing power on ships.

  3. The main risk

    Heavy debt loads with total debt of $21.3B create vulnerability to any macroeconomic shock that abruptly dampens consumer discretionary vacation spending.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityFair

Operating margin reaches 27.3% with an ROE of 43.8%, showing high returns despite negative free cash flow driven by massive fleet capital investments.

MoatWeak

Scale and heavy capital ships lock in consumers, evidenced by an operating margin sitting at the 94th sector percentile, though high capital intensity limits durability.

GrowthFast

Revenue growth registers at 8.8% with revenue reaching $18.7B, continuing an upward path from $16.5B in the prior year.

Financial healthWeak

Total debt sits at $21.3B against $825M in cash, while free cash flow dropped to -$416M due to heavy capital expenditures of $7.2B, getting softer.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

1 sold $4.0M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on RCL

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is RCL a good business?

Royal Caribbean Group scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.4 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat weak, growth fast and financial health weak.

Are insiders buying RCL?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $4.0M outside pre-planned sales.

When does RCL report earnings?

Oct 27, 2026, before the open.

For members

See RCL today

  • Today's verdict on RCL, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “Royal Caribbean Group (RCL)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/rcl/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.