MIAMI (AP) — Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, said yesterday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose four percent, beating Wall Street's expectations, as the company held down costs and benefited from higher prices on some cruise lines.

Carnival's quarterly earnings rose to $371 million, or 47 cents per share, from $358 million, or 44 cents, a year ago. The Miami-based company noted that its 2008 results include a gain of $31 million on the sale of the Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth 2.

Quarterly revenue rose six percent to $3.3 billion, from $3.12 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast quarterly earnings of 40 cents on revenue of $3.33 billion.

"Higher ticket prices for our North American brands, combined with our continued focus on managing controllable costs helped us offset $84 million of higher fuel expense during the quarter," said Carnival chairman and chief executive Micky Arison in a statement.

Carnival's full-year profit dipped three percent to $2.33 billion, or $2.90 per share, from $2.41 billion, or $2.95 per share, in the prior year.

Full-year revenue jumped 12 percent to $14.65 billion, from $13.03 billion in 2007.

Analysts forecast full-year profit of $2.82 per share on revenue of $14.62 billion.

For 2009, Carnival said its occupancy levels for advance bookings are trending behind last year's levels. Ticket prices for the bookings are also at lower levels, the cruise operator said.

Carnival lowered its 2009 earnings per share guidance to a range of $2.25 to $2.75, from its previous range of $2.50 to $3. Analysts predict profit of $2.64.

For the first quarter, Carnival predicted that earnings will range from 20 cents to 22 cents per share, down from 30 cents per share in the first quarter of 2008. Analysts predict first-quarter earnings of 16 cents per share.

In morning trading, Carnival shares fell 46 cents to $23.01.