ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD vs Viking Holdings Ltd, two Marine Shipping stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Both are cruise operators, but they chase different passengers: Royal Caribbean fills large mass-market and premium ships, while Viking courts the older, higher-spend ocean and river traveler. Royal converts more of each dollar to profit, a 24.36% net margin against Viking's 17.66%. Cash generation runs the other way, with Viking's free-cash-flow yield at 5.59% against Royal's 1.59%, though Royal pays a 1.1% dividend that the recently public, debt-heavy Viking does not match. At $45.8B Viking is valued below Royal's $86.3B, fitting its smaller fleet. Royal is the scaled, high-margin incumbent; Viking is the premium-niche upstart still carrying its post-IPO leverage.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | RCL | VIK |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $285.25 | $99.11 |
| Market cap | $77.3B | $44.0B |
| Sector | Marine Shipping | Marine Shipping |
| Stage | Growth | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | +43.0% |
| P/E | 17.4 | 38.3 |
| P/B | 7.71 | 39.20 |
| P/S | 4.20 | 6.76 |
| EV/EBITDA | 11.3 | 23.5 |
| Revenue growth | +10.1% | +22.6% |
| Operating margin | 26.1% | 20.9% |
| Net margin | 24.4% | 17.7% |
| Return on equity | 44.7% | 102.4% |
| Return on assets | 10.7% | 9.4% |
| Return on invested capital | 43.5% | 131.7% |
| FCF yield | 1.8% | 5.8% |
| Dividend yield | 1.2% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.14 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 0.20 | 0.79 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 1.94 | 6.03 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 8 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.