UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Reiterates Neutral Rating, Lowers PT on Carnival Corporation

In a report published Monday, Goldman Sachs Group reiterated its Neutral rating on Carnival Corporation

, but lowered its price target from $42.75 to $38.50. Goldman Sachs noted, “Our full year EPS estimate is lowered to $2.32 from $2.77. While we expect net yields to pick up in the latter half of the year due to easier comps, we have lowered our full year net yield number to 1.6% from 4.3%. Net yield growth expectations were tempered as management noted that the less-than-robust US economy and the struggling European economies will make higher pricing increases difficult to achieve. Management noted that bookings for the North American brands are running slightly behind with slightly higher pricing, while the European market, which includes Costa, continues to face economic challenges that are impacting the propensity for Europeans to take vacations. We forecast higher fuel price per metric ton of $692 for the year as we factor in Brent forward curve trends and the roll through of additional costs associated with the ECA regulations that came into effect in August. While we forecast bunker fuel to be down 5.1%, we've adjusted for a decline of 2.4% as the ECA regulations require ships operating within 200 nautical miles of the US and Canada coastline to use a marine fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 1% by weight, which is a more expensive fuel.” Carnival Corporation closed on Friday at $37.02.