Sifting through countless of stocks in the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Carnival Corporation Ltd., a cruise company, provides leisure travel services in North America, Australia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: North America Cruise Operations, Europe Cruise Operations, Cruise Support, and Tour and Other. It operates port destinations and islands, as well as owns and operates hotels, lodges, glass-domed railcars, and motorcoaches. The company offers its services under the AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises (Australia), P&O Cruises (UK), Princess Cruises, and Seabourn brands. It sells its cruises through travel agents, tour operators, vacation planners, websites, and onboard future cruise consultants. Carnival Corporation Ltd. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a cruise company in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It offers itineraries to destinations, such as Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Africa, Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Alaska; and inter-island itinerary in Hawaii. The company also provides features, amenities, and activities, including various accommodations, dining venues, bars and lounges, spas, casino and retail shopping areas, and entertainment choices; shore excursions at each port of call, and air transportation and hotel packages for stays before or after a voyage. It offers its products and services under the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. The company was founded in 1966 and is based in Miami, Florida.

Latest Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure and Carnival Corporation Ltd., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Stock News

As of May 15, 2026, Carnival Corporation Ltd. had a $34.1 billion market capitalization, compared to the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure median of $2.1 million. Carnival Corporation Ltd.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 7.18% in the past year.

Currently, Carnival Corporation Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 11.0. Carnival Corporation Ltd.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $27.0 billion with a 11.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.220 per share for the current fiscal year. Carnival Corporation Ltd. currently has a 2.4% dividend yield.

Currently, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.9. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $10.0 billion with a 5.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.655 per share for the current fiscal year. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. does not currently pay a dividend.

How We Compare Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

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 estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Carnival Corporation Ltd.	CCL	D
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.	NCLH	D

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 three 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 to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Carnival Corporation Ltd. has a Growth Score of 28, which is Weak. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a Growth Score of 32, which is Weak.

The Growth Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a high enough Growth Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is the better investment when it comes to sustainable growth.

Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Carnival Corporation Ltd.	CCL	B
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.	NCLH	C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score 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 the 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 Ltd. has a Quality Score of 76, which is Strong. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a Quality Score of 43, which is Average.

The Quality Grade Winner: Carnival Corporation Ltd.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Carnival Corporation Ltd. has a better overall quality grade than Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Carnival Corporation Ltd. could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Carnival Corporation Ltd.	CCL	D
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.	NCLH	D

Momentum grades help to 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 Ltd. has a Momentum Score of 38, which is Weak. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a Momentum Score of 22, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Grades

In addition to Quality, Growth and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. 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.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Carnival Corporation Ltd. or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Stock?

Overall, Carnival Corporation Ltd. stock has a Growth Score of 28, Momentum Score of 38 and Quality Score of 76.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. stock has a Growth Score of 32, Momentum Score of 22 and Quality Score of 43.

Comparing Carnival Corporation Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

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.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.