Learn more about whether Carnival Corporation & plc is a good stock to buy or sell based on recent news as well as its key financial metrics. Read on to find out how
(CCL) grades on certain investment factors and determine whether it meets your investment needs.
Latest Carnival Corporation & plc Stock News
As of December 12, 2025, Carnival Corporation & plc had a $36.0 billion market capitalization, putting it in the 92nd percentile of companies in the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry.
Currently, Carnival Corporation & plc’s price-earnings ratio is 14.3. Carnival Corporation & plc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $26.2 billion with a 10.1% profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 3.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.160 per share for the current fiscal year. Carnival Corporation & plc does not currently pay a dividend.
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Grading Carnival Corporation & plc Stock
Before you choose to buy, sell or hold Carnival Corporation & plc stock, you’ll want to analyze how it has been graded. Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, making sense of financial ratios, reading income statements and analyzing recent stock movement. To help individual investors decide whether or not to buy
(CCL) stock, AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way that is suitable for investors of all knowledge levels.
AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Carnival Corporation & plc’s stock grades for value, growth and quality.
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Carnival Corporation & plc Stock Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Rank | CCL | Sector Median |
| Price/Sales | 39 | 1.36 | 0.72 |
| Price/Earnings | 34 | 14.3 | 20.8 |
| EV/EBITDA | 24 | 8.0 | 12.5 |
| Shareholder Yield | 68 | (3.6%) | 0.0% |
| Price/Book Value | 64 | 3.04 | 1.88 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | 30 | 12.4 | 18.6 |
Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.
AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s value score. The value score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.
Carnival Corporation & plc has a Value Score of 58, which is Average.
Carnival Corporation & plc Stock Growth Grade
Growth Grade:
| Metric | Metric Score | CCL | Sector Median |
| Sales Growth 5yr Ann'l | 60 | 3.7% | 5.7% |
| Sales Increases YoY Last 5 yrs | 60 | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Cash from Operations Ann'l Positive Last 5 yrs | 40 | 2 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.
In order to compute the Growth Score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of the three individual components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five‐year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.
The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered Very Weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered Very Strong.
Carnival Corporation & plc has a Growth Score of 26, which is Weak.
Carnival Corporation & plc Stock Quality Grade
Quality Grade:
| Metric | Score | CCL | Sector Median |
| Return on Assets (ROA) | 73 | 5.2% | 2.5% |
| Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) | 46 | 11.9% | 17.4% |
| Gross Income to Assets | 70 | 28.4% | 29.7% |
| Buyback Yield | 35 | (3.6%) | (0.2%) |
| Change in Total Liabilities to Assets | 79 | (4.5%) | 1.3% |
| Accruals to Assets | 58 | (5.8%) | (5.7%) |
| Z Double Prime Bankruptcy Risk (Z) Score | 38 | 3.45 | 5.44 |
| F-Score | 93 | 8 | 5 |
Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Grade is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.
The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.
The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.
Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.
Carnival Corporation & plc has a Quality Score of 76, which is Strong.
Carnival Corporation & plc Stock Momentum Grade
Momentum Grade:
| Metric | Score | CCL | Sector Median |
| Relative Price Strength (Q1) | 30 | (14.5%) | (10.4%) |
| Relative Price Strength (Q2) | 83 | 19.5% | (0.6%) |
| Relative Price Strength (Q3) | 76 | 7.7% | (6.9%) |
| Relative Price Strength (Q4) | 26 | (15.8%) | (4.8%) |
| Relative Price Strength (weighted 4 qtr) | 42 | (3.5%) | (4.0%) |
Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.
Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.
Carnival Corporation & plc has a Momentum Score of 42, which is Average.
Carnival Corporation & plc Stock Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade
Estimate Revisions Grade:
| Metric | Score | CCL | Sector Median |
| Quarterly Surprise SUE Latest Qtr | 77 | 3.7 | 1.2 |
| Quarterly Surprise SUE Prior Qtr | 87 | 5.6 | 1.2 |
| EPS Est Current Year % Rev Last Month | 26 | (0.1%) | 0.0% |
| EPS Est Current Year % Rev 3 Mos | 78 | 7.8% | 0.0% |
The Earnings Estimate Revisions Score considers the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).
Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. The Earnings Estimate Revisions Score is based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.
Carnival Corporation & plc has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Score of 67, which is Positive.
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Should I Buy Carnival Corporation & plc Stock?
Overall, Carnival Corporation & plc stock has a Value Grade of C, Growth Grade of D, Quality Grade of B, Momentum Grade of C Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade of B.
Whether or not you should buy Carnival Corporation & plc stock will ultimately depend on your individual goals, risk tolerance and allocation. AAII can help you figure these out and identify which investments align with what works best for you.
Lastly, it’s important to evaluate a stock by comparing it against others in the same industry. Review the table below to see how Carnival Corporation & plc stock stands up against its competitors. Click into any of the below tickers to see their stock grades for value, momentum, quality and EPS revisions.
Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL) Competitors
Companies similar to Carnival Corporation & plc in the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry.
| Company name | Ticker | Market Cap |
| Amadeus IT Group, S.A. | AMADY | $32.05Bil |
| Expedia Group, Inc. | EXPE | $33.60Bil |
| Flutter Entertainment plc | FLUT | $39.17Bil |
| Carnival Corporation & plc | CUK | $34.62Bil |
| Las Vegas Sands Corp. | LVS | $44.11Bil |
Carnival Corporation & plc Stock: Bottom Line
You can use the information about how Carnival Corporation & plc is graded to determine if you should invest in this stock. However, you should decide whether Carnival Corporation & plc’s stock is a buy, sell or hold based on a combination of grades, metrics, ratios and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports.
Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets—without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.
So, if you’re still on the fence about whether Carnival Corporation & plc is a buy, sell or hold, you can utilize AAII’s expansive and robust screening tools like A+ Investor to help with your decision.
A+ Investor adds to its qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions, find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.
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