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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, 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 to watch right now is Carnival (CCL - Free Report) . CCL is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.03. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.60. Over the past year, CCL's Forward P/E has been as high as 20.38 and as low as 10.05, with a median of 13.52.

Another notable valuation metric for CCL is its P/B ratio of 2.53. 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 attractive against its industry's average P/B of 4.07. Over the past year, CCL's P/B has been as high as 3.16 and as low as 1.77, with a median of 2.56.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CCL has a P/S ratio of 0.95. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.12.

Finally, investors should note that CCL has a P/CF ratio of 6.28. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 12.77. CCL's P/CF has been as high as 23.55 and as low as 5.10, with a median of 6.77, all within the past year.

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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