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Is Carnival (CCL) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One stock to keep an eye on is Carnival (CCL - Free Report) . CCL is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.38. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.34. Over the last 12 months, CCL's Forward P/E has been as high as 36.53 and as low as 11.77, with a median of 14.99.

We should also highlight that CCL has a P/B ratio of 3. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 3.63. Over the past 12 months, CCL's P/B has been as high as 3.60 and as low as 1.77, with a median of 2.63.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. CCL has a P/S ratio of 0.88. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.97.

Finally, our model also underscores that CCL has a P/CF ratio of 6.64. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. CCL's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 13.08. CCL's P/CF has been as high as 24.98 and as low as -24.51, with a median of 7.31, all within the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Carnival is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, CCL feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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