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Are Investors Undervaluing Carnival (CCL) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Carnival (CCL - Free Report) . CCL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.29. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.82. Over the past year, CCL's Forward P/E has been as high as 31.90 and as low as 11.77, with a median of 14.59.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CCL's P/B ratio of 2.82. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. CCL's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 3.39. Over the past year, 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 0.8. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.94.

Finally, investors should note that CCL has a P/CF ratio of 6.24. 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 current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 12.13. Over the past year, CCL's P/CF has been as high as 26.20 and as low as -24.48, with a median of 7.31.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Carnival's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, CCL looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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