Carnival Cruise Stock Suffers Major Post-Earnings Blow

Several analysts have handed out bear notes

Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) is suffering another blow this morning, mere days after the Thomas Cook collapse. In fact, CCL is down 1.8% lower at $43.18, still reeling on the back of yesterday's dismal earnings report and lowered fiscal year profit forecast. The company cited higher fuel prices for the weak outlook, despite reporting a third-quarter earnings beat, and analysts are now weighing in. No fewer than five analysts have handed out bear notes in response, with Berenberg saying yesterday's earnings "heightened our fears," triggering the firm's fresh downgrade to "sell" from "hold," and price-target cut to $38 from $48.

Carnival stock may still be ripe for even more bear notes, as coming into today it carried four "strong buys" and 10 "holds," with not a single sell on the books. Plus, the stock's average 12-month price target of $52 is an 18.3% premium to Thursday night's close of $43.95.

Digging deeper, the equity's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.73 stands in the lofty 90th percentile of its annual range, per data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This suggests that during the past 10 weeks of trading, puts have been purchased over calls at a faster-than-usual clip.

Carnival stock has been on a steep downtrend since touching a record high of $72.70 back in early 2018. In fact, the shares have shed nearly 40% in this time, with added pressure stemming from their descending 200-day moving average.