Carnival Corporation & plc · CCL · FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q3 2026

Carnival posts record Q3 as demand and efficiency offset fuel costs

Carnival's Q3 analysis supports a constructive operating thesis: resilient demand, pricing and efficiency gains are supporting growth, while destination investment and modernization provide additional drivers. The counterweight is that fuel, geopolitical and loyalty-program effects could pressure near-term performance.

Reported Before market openNYSEConsumer Cyclical $34.39B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $1.43 Consensus $1.35
EPS surprise +5.9% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $8.44B Consensus $8.39B
Revenue surprise +0.6% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +13.4% Event window
SPY move -0.2% Same window
Abnormal move +13.6% Stock minus SPY
Volume 3.2× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift 0.0% Up to 20 sessions
CCLSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared with the prior quarter, the analysis emphasizes a record Q3, $150 million of net-income benefit from operational and fuel-efficiency improvements, stronger European deployment, the Carnival Rewards rollout and a $1.2 billion repurchase plan alongside debt reduction.

Guidance delta

Management's guidance sentiment was raised; the transcript analysis says Q3 2026 beat guidance by $100 million and highlights continued demand strength, while noting near-term yield and geopolitical risks.

Key takeaways

  • Q3 2026 delivered record revenue, yields and net income, according to the transcript analysis.
  • Operational and fuel-efficiency improvements added $150 million of net income and offset higher fuel prices.
  • Europe now ties the Caribbean as the largest deployment region.
  • Carnival Rewards is expected to become cash-flow positive in 2028 despite short-term yield headwinds.
  • Capital allocation includes share repurchases, debt reduction and continued PROPEL investment.

Management priorities

  • Expand Celebration Key and other private destinations.
  • Modernize AIDA, Holland America and Queen Mary 2.
  • Roll out AI across commercial and operational systems.
  • Maintain modest capacity growth and focus on high-return deployments.
  • Continue debt reduction and investment under PROPEL.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
CCL EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 10 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $-0.12 Q4 '23 actual $-0.07, beat Q1 '24 estimate $-0.18 Q1 '24 actual $-0.14, beat Q2 '24 estimate $0.01 Q2 '24 actual $0.11, beat Q3 '24 estimate $1.16 Q3 '24 actual $1.27, beat Q2 '25 estimate $0.25 Q2 '25 actual $0.35, beat Q3 '25 estimate $1.32 Q3 '25 actual $1.43, beat Q4 '25 estimate $0.25 Q4 '25 actual $0.34, beat Q1 '26 estimate $0.18 Q1 '26 actual $0.20, beat Q2 '26 estimate $0.34 Q2 '26 actual $0.41, beat Q3 '26 estimate $1.35 Q3 '26 actual $1.43, beat Q4 '26 estimate $0.24 Q1 '27 estimate $0.16 Q2 '27 estimate $0.47 Q3 '27 estimate $1.53
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy47 ratings
Bullish2859.6%
Neutral1736.2%
Bearish24.2%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$25.11Previous close
$18Low
$30.51Average
$42High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted previous close from FN2's market snapshot as of Sep 30, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Susquehanna Positive PositiveMaintainSep 24, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainSep 24, 2026
TD Cowen Buy BuyMaintainSep 22, 2026
Goldman Sachs Buy BuyMaintainSep 17, 2026
Stifel Buy BuyMaintainSep 16, 2026
Show 42 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted previous close $25.11. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Morgan StanleyJamie Rollo$32.5$25.11 +29.4%Sep 29, 2026
SusquehannaAnalyst unavailable$28$21.8 +11.5%Sep 24, 2026
Deutsche BankAnalyst unavailable$32$22.31 +27.4%Sep 22, 2026
Goldman SachsLizzie Dove$30$22.35 +19.5%Sep 17, 2026
Stifel NicolausAnalyst unavailable$35$22.11 +39.4%Sep 16, 2026
See 78 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Carnival Corporation & plc operates as a prominent global entity in the leisure travel sector. Its extensive fleet of vessels navigates to nearly 700 different ports globally, sailing under a diverse portfolio of acclaimed brands such as Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises (Australia), Seabourn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK), and Cunard. Beyond its core cruise operations, the company also provides port services and other related offerings. Its holdings include and it manages hotels, lodges, unique glass-domed railcars, and motor coaches.…

Historical context

All CCL earnings

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-09-30T08:07:01.414551+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-09-30T01:23:08.536807+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-09-30T08:16:09.886207+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-09-30T08:16:09.883498+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-09-30. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.