Carnival Stock Sinks After Wedbush Slashes Price Target

Carnival Corporation & Plc (CCL) sank 5.45% Monday after Wedbush cut its price target on the embattled cruise operator’s stock from $29 to $20 while reiterating a ‘Neutral’ rating. However, the revised target still implies a 31% upside from Monday’s $15.28 close.

Despite Carnival announcing last week that several of its AIDA cruises will recommence sailing in August and that it continues to see demand from new bookings next year, analyst James Hardiman sees trouble on the horizon amid increasing COVID-19 cases in the United States.

“While a legitimate target for the restart of the AIDA brand is encouraging, we can’t help but think that we remain a far distance away from operations resuming in the United States given a resurgence in COVID-19 cases as well as halted (in some instances reversed) economic reopenings,” Hardiman said, per MarketWatch.

Through July 13, Carnival stock has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion and trades nearly 70% lower on the year. Although, the shares have fared much better over the past three months, clawing back 30%. Earlier this year, the company suspended its dividend and share buyback programs to improve its liquidity position.

Reducing Fleet Size

Carnival, which operates over 100 vessels across nine brands, said it expects to reduce its fleet by 13 ships, representing nearly 9% of its total capacity. The company sold one of its ships last month and has agreements to offload another five. It also has preliminary sale agreements for three vessels and previously announced transactions for four other ship removals. The move creates a more efficient company to navigate the unchartered waters of the ongoing pandemic.

Wall Street View

Analysts overwhelmingly remain on the sidelines, with the stock receiving 12 ‘Hold’ ratings. This is hardly surprising, given the uncertainty surrounding sailing schedules and passenger demand in 2021 and beyond. The stock also has 7 ‘Buy’ ratings and 4 ‘Sell’ ratings. Street price targets range from as low as $9.93 to as high as $27.

Technical Outlook

Since running into resistance at the 100-day simple moving average (SMA) in early June, Carnival shares have retraced back down to the $14.5 level, where price finds vital support from a horizontal trendline. Providing the stock can hold steady in this area, look for a test of the June 8 high around $25. Alternatively, if a breakdown below $14.5 occurs, anticipate a decline to the next key area of support at $11.50.