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Carnival Corp.CCLBUYApr 19, 2017Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 18, 2026. Market Open.
From a momentum standpoint the stock looks good, more than doubling this year and with a big jump in earnings expected in 2024. However, debt, at 31X cash flow, still makes us wary overall. To survive covid the sharecount nearly doubled since 2019 as it issued shares for capital. Going into a possible recession, we would still be cautious here overall. The easy money on the recovery has probably been made now, and it may be more challenging going forward.
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You could buy it. Cruises are overbooking. Trend towards travel will continue, it won't be one summer and finished. Cruise companies should benefit. There's lots of disposable money out there. Be careful of a recession, as this falls into discretionary income and would be one of the first things to go.
We would consider CCL a very high risk stock. Just as it is recovering from Covid, a recession is now a possibility. Cash flow has been negative for three years, and high yield debt was issued for the company to survive the pandemic. Debt is now $31B (net). Even in a 'good' year cash flow was only $5.5B. It is expected to make money next year but we do not see it as a stock to enter into at this time.
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Carnival Cruise (CCL-N) or Royal Caribbean Cruise (RCL-N)? As a thematic investor, one of the key themes he is interested in is travel and leisure. Both these companies play into that theme, as does Disney (DIS-N). Both are well run companies and global. He would buy either one. Both should grow earnings in the mid-teens, and you could do well in either one.