Carnival (CCL) Q3 Earnings: What to Expect

Cruise ship company Carnival ( NYSE:CCL ) will announce earnings results tomorrow before the bell. Here’s what investors should know.

Carnival beat analysts’ expectations by 1.9% in the latest quarter, reporting revenue of $5.78 billion, up 17.7% from last year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, impressively beating analysts’ earnings and operating margin estimates. It reported 24.3 million passenger cruise days, up 11.5% from the previous year.

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For the quarter, analysts expect Carnival’s revenue to rise 14.1% year-over-year to $7.82 billion, down from 59.2% growth in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.15 per share.

Most analysts who cover the company have reconfirmed their estimates in the past 30 days, suggesting that they expect the business to maintain its earnings trajectory. Carnival has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates twice in the past two years.

Looking at Carnival’s peers in the consumer discretionary segment, only Scholastic has reported results so far. It beat analysts’ revenue estimates by 1.6 percent, delivering annual sales growth of 3.8 percent. Shares traded up 6% of the results.

Read our full analysis of Scholastic’s earnings results here.

There was positive sentiment among investors in the consumer discretionary segment, with share prices rising an average of 4.9% over the past month. Carnival is up 14.6% over the same period and is headed for earnings with an average analyst price target of $28 (compared to the stock’s current price of $18.72).

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