In the latest close session, Carnival (CCL) was down 1.48% at $29.28. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.49%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.65%.
Heading into today, shares of the cruise operator had gained 1.4% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 4.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.96%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Carnival in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Carnival to post earnings of $1.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 3.15%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $8.05 billion, indicating a 1.99% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2 per share and a revenue of $26.49 billion, representing changes of +40.85% and +5.87%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Carnival. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% higher. Carnival is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking at valuation, Carnival is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.85. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 21.66.
We can additionally observe that CCL currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.66. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Leisure and Recreation Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.64 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Leisure and Recreation Services industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 177, putting it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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Carnival Corporation (CCL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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