Roby Vannucci
Carnival Corporation (New York Stock Exchange:CCL) stocks closed higher on Tuesday, snapping a six-day slide during which they lost 16.5%.
Shares in the British and American cruise operator closed 0.97% higher at $14.54, above their 52-week low of $10.84. The stock has lost 19.40% in value over the past 12 months.
Carnival has closed in the red for three trading days in August. During the month of July, it closed in the green for 9 of the 19 sessions.
According to Seeking Alpha's quantitative ratings, the Miami, Florida-based firm has a Strong Buy rating of 4.84 out of 5. The company received an A for profitability and an A+ for growth prospects. The stock also received a C for valuation, compared to a C+ six months ago.
As for the Wall Street community, about 21 out of 28 analysts gave the stock a Buy or better recommendation, 5 recommended Hold and the remaining 2 recommended Strong Sell.
Seeking Alpha analysts are bullish and gave the stock a Buy rating.
Carnival was among the most heavily shorted S&P 500 stocks in June.
“Carnival is in an unrivaled position within the cruise industry and recent announcements show that management expects this to continue,” reads a report by Seeking Alpha analyst Vincent Phan. “The primary risks to Carnival are related to its results, but these have clear mitigations and the company should be able to operate on this strength for the foreseeable future,” he added.
Another report from Seeking Alpha analyst Felipe Brum noted that Carnival's free cash flow generation due to higher earnings and lower capital expenditure will lead to a better net debt/EBITDA ratio, with significantly lower interest expenses.
