Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL)

FairStock Score: 61/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I approach Carnival with Graham's caution and Buffett's preference for durable cash. The business is a large cruise operator with multiple brands, 160,000 employees, and port destinations. It is unquestionably cyclical, but the turnaround is real: in fiscal 2023, ended 2023-11-30, net income was -$74.0M; in fiscal 2024, ended 2024-11-30, net income was $1.9B; in fiscal 2025, ended 2025-11-30, net income was $2.8B. In fiscal Q3 2026, ended 2026-08-31, revenue was $8.4B and net income $1.9B, versus $8.2B revenue and $1.9B net income in the comparable fiscal Q3 2025 quarter. Free cash flow is $3.2B, an 8.9% FCF yield, and FairStock's Piotroski score is 9/9. But the balance sheet tempers enthusiasm: D/E is 2.02, Altman Z is 0.66, and ROCE is only 5.37%, while ROE is 26.69% - a sign leverage flatters returns. At the 2026-10-13 close of $26.73, FairStock shows P/E 12.04, P/B 2.83, EV/EBITDA 8.35, and a Graham Number of $21.73, leaving a -23.01% margin of safety. The Lynch category is TURNAROUND: returned to profit after a loss within the last three years. I see improving operations, but not a wide-moat bargain; the price already reflects much of the recovery, and the debt load remains the key risk.

In plain English: Carnival runs cruise ships and vacation destinations under several brands. The business has moved from losses to profits and produces cash after running and investing in the business, but it carries a lot of debt and depends on people spending on travel. At the recent share price, the stock looks roughly fair to slightly expensive compared with its profits and net assets.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q3 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-08-31) · fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-05-31) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-02-28) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-08-31) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-11-30) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-11-30) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-11-30)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer