Cruise company stocks are surging in April despite the coronavirus pandemic

Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals

U.S. cruise line stocks popped on Tuesday after Carnival CEO Arnold Donald said in an interview that customers are already booking trips for 2021.

Flashback: The comments mirrored what Donald told me in an interview last month for "Axios on HBO" that the company had interest from potential customers until it shut down operations.

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• "All the way up until the day we paused people wanted to cruise."

The intrigue: Carnival's stock has risen 30% so far this month.

• The stock rose 8% on Tuesday (a week after a 20% gain) and has seen a gain or loss of less than 5% on just one trading day this month.
• Other cruise companies also saw major surges in their stock prices Tuesday, with Royal Caribbean rising 13.4% and Norwegian Cruise Line gaining 8.7%.

But, but, but: Carnival's stock price is still down 75% since the beginning of the year.