Carnival (CCL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) is a global cruise operator that provides leisure travel services through a portfolio of passenger cruise brands. The company’s core business is operating cruise ships that offer multi-night voyages and associated vacation services, including onboard accommodations, dining, entertainment, spa and wellness offerings, casinos, youth programs, and organized shore excursions. Carnival markets cruise vacations to a broad range of consumers, from value-focused travelers to premium and luxury segments, through differentiated brand positioning and onboard experiences.

Its operating structure comprises multiple well-known cruise brands that target distinct geographic and demographic markets. These brands include mainstream and premium lines that serve North American, European, Australian and Asian itineraries, with ship deployments tailored by season and route demand. In addition to core cruise operations, Carnival’s services encompass itinerary planning, packaged shore excursions, specialized onboard programming, and guest loyalty initiatives designed to encourage repeat business.

Carnival’s origins trace back to the early 1970s when the original Carnival Cruise Line was founded and later expanded through organic growth and acquisitions. A notable milestone in its corporate history was the combination of Carnival with other cruise interests to create a dual-listed global company, which broadened its international footprint and brand portfolio. Today the company operates across major cruise markets worldwide and manages a diverse fleet that serves short and long-duration itineraries to a variety of destinations.

Leadership has included members of the Arison family historically involved in the company’s direction, and executive management responsible for day-to-day operations and strategic planning. Carnival positions itself as one of the leading global cruise operators, focused on delivering holiday experiences across a range of prices and styles while responding to regulatory, safety and operational demands inherent to the cruise industry.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $23.67 to $24.71
• 50-Day Range: $23.89 to $29.21
• 52-Week Range: $21.62 to $34.03
• Volume: 13.89 million shs
• Average Volume: 25.53 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $29.79 billion
• P/E Ratio: 10.70
• Dividend Yield: 2.50%
• Price Target: $34.18
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Carnival Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Carnival scored higher than 98% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 15th out of 272 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Carnival has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.80, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 20 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Carnival has a consensus price target of $34.18, representing about 37.1% upside from its current price of $24.93.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Carnival has been the subject of 16 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 17.19%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Carnival are expected to grow by 17.19% in the coming year, from $2.21 to $2.59 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Carnival is 11.08, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.46.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Carnival is 11.08, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 18.18.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Carnival has a PEG Ratio of 1.09. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Carnival has a P/B Ratio of 2.37. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.84% of the float of Carnival has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Carnival has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.84, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Carnival has recently increased by 2.31%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Carnival pays a meaningful dividend of 2.44%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Carnival does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Carnival is 26.67%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Carnival will have a dividend payout ratio of 23.17% next year. This indicates that Carnival will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.62

News Sentiment

Carnival has a news sentiment score of 0.62. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.51 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 18 news articles for Carnival this week, compared to 12 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 58 people have searched for CCL on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -38% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 16 people have added Carnival to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -30% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Carnival insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $314,265.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

7.90% of the stock of Carnival is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

67.19% of the stock of Carnival is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 2/27 Dividend: 2/13/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 2/27 Dividend: 2/13/2026
• Dividend Payable: 2/27/2026
• Last Earnings: 3/27/2026
• Record date for 5/29 Dividend: 5/18/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 5/29 Dividend: 5/18/2026
• Today: 5/19/2026
• Dividend Payable: 5/29/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 6/23/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 11/30/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: LEISURE&REC SVS
• Sub-Industry: Hotels Resorts & Cruise Lines
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CCL
• CIK: 815097
• Web: www.carnival.com
• Phone: (305) 599-2600
• Fax: 305-399-4696
• Employees: 101,000
• Year Founded: 1972

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Carnival: $34.18
• High Price Target: $45.00
• Low Price Target: $22.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +41.8%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.80
• Research Coverage: 25 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.25
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 10.70
• Forward P/E Ratio: 10.90
• P/E Growth: 1.09
• Net Income: $2.76 billion
• Net Margins: 11.48%
• Pretax Margin: 11.57%
• Return on Equity: 26.92%
• Return on Assets: 6.20%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.82
• Current Ratio: 0.30
• Quick Ratio: 0.26

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $26.62 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.12
• Cash Flow: $5.02 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 4.80
• Book Value: $10.53 per share
• Price / Book: 2.29

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 1,239,000,000
• Free Float: 1,141,119,000
• Market Cap: $29.86 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 2.33