LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - HSBC upgraded shares of cruise operator Carnival to 'buy' from 'hold' on Monday as it highlighted early positive booking trends.
The bank said that following the company's debt and equity issuance, it now has enough liquidity to continue operating in the current environment until November 2020.

However, assuming operations restart from the end of August, the group will still need covenant waivers as it has to generate a minimum level of EBITDA every quarter.

"On our analysis, CCL may breach covenants in Q3-20," it said. "However, given the recent positive peer data on booking trends (albeit early days and small numbers) and Carnival aiming for a phased return of service from August, we think these factors could improve their booking and customer deposit outlook.

"This should help them to obtain covenant waivers especially as we don't think lenders would likely be willing to take control of underlying assets in the current environment."

HSBC, which slashed its price target on Carnival to 1,280p from 3,500p, said risks include a tougher environment to raise financing and further delays to operations restarting.

At 1510 BST, the shares were up 1.5% at 951.20p.

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