In the latest close session, Carnival (CCL) was up +2.81% at $26.71. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.61%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.23%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.19%.
Shares of the cruise operator have depreciated by 2.95% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 2.29%, and the S&P 500's gain of 4.44%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Carnival in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Carnival to post earnings of $0.34 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 2.86%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.63 billion, up 4.72% from the year-ago period.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.24 per share and a revenue of $27.83 billion, representing changes of -0.44% and +4.54%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Carnival. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.97% downward. Carnival is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Carnival is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 11.59. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.47, so one might conclude that Carnival is trading at a discount comparatively.
It's also important to note that CCL currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.14. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Leisure and Recreation Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.22 as of yesterday's close.
The Leisure and Recreation Services industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 206, which puts it in the bottom 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Carnival Corporation (CCL): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).