Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: UAL Corp., Carnival Corp., Carnival Plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Quicksilver Resources, Inc.

Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: UAL Corp. (Nasdaq: UAUA), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), Carnival Plc (NYSE: CUK), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) and Quicksilver Resources, Inc. (NYSE: KWK).

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Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog:

United Feeling Downward Pressure

We are maintaining our Hold on UAL Corp., or United (Nasdaq: UAUA), as well as our $10 target price as the industry is still hostage to oil prices since fuel is the largest single expense category on the income statement and we do not expect oil prices to drop significantly in the near term. UAL is expected to report third quarter results in late October.

We are retaining our loss per share estimates at $12 for 2008 and $5 for 2009. Results should reflect moderate revenue growth, based upon higher domestic airfares, reduced domestic capacity and an increased international presence, offset by much higher fuel costs and larger materials, maintenance and purchased services expense.

Carnival Just Cruising Along

We expect Carnival (NYSE: CCL) and Carnival Plc (NYSE: CUK) to continue to trade at a premium to its largest competitor over the near-term. However, given our expectation for continuing margin pressures, especially related to significantly higher fuel expenses, we do not feel that material price appreciation is warranted at this time. While the recent pullback in the price of fuel should provide some relief, we note that costs remain significantly higher on a year-over-year basis. We maintain our Hold rating for Carnival.

Given the significant impact of fluctuating fuel expenses on the bottomline, we continue to believe that the implementation of a hedging program would be viewed favorably by the Street. The added visibility resulting from a hedging program would enable investors to focus more on operating metrics under the companys control. While Carnival is trading at 13.5x estimated 2008 earnings, Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) is currently trading at 10.4x estimated 2008 EPS. Our six-month target price of $40 is based on a multiple of 15.0x expected 2008 earnings.

Quicksilver Target Adjusted

We are maintaining our Buy recommendation on Quicksilver Resources, Inc. (NYSE: KWK) but decreasing our target price to $40 from $42 per share. The companys growth story remains strong and with the recent accretive Alliance acquisition, the company looks to further increase its growth prospects in the prolific Barnett Shale.

The Texas Barnett Shale play now represents over 5.5 Tcfe of low risk reserve potential for KWK. The near 45% pullback since mid-July in the companys stock price is near historically low levels from a valuation stand point, further solidifies our recommendation.

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