Carnival Corp. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

The analysis of the financial ratios over the given periods reveals several notable trends and shifts in the company's valuation metrics.

Price to Earnings (P/E) Ratio

The P/E ratio data is largely unavailable before February 2019. From February 2019 through February 2020, the P/E ratio demonstrated a gradual decline from 12.86 to 11.04, indicating a slight decrease in market valuation relative to earnings. In May 2020, it sharply dropped to 3.22, reflecting either a substantial rise in earnings or a significant market price drop during that quarter. Data for mid-2020 to late 2023 is missing, but by February 2024, the P/E ratio dramatically increased to 55.6, suggesting heightened market expectations for earnings growth or a price rebound at that time.

Price to Operating Profit (P/OP) Ratio

The P/OP ratio mirrors the P/E trends from the beginning of 2019 through early 2020, starting at 12.19 and declining to 10.08 by February 2020. A steep decline to 2.77 is noted in May 2020, indicating a similar market reaction as observed in the P/E ratio. Missing data follows until November 2023, where the ratio again fluctuates — rising to 41.11 in February 2024 before decreasing to values around 9.37 in the later quarterly observations. This suggests a period of substantial valuation volatility relative to operating profit in early 2024.

Price to Sales (P/S) Ratio

The P/S ratio exhibits pronounced volatility throughout the period. Beginning at 2.15 in February 2019, it declines steadily to a low of 0.29 in May 2020, coinciding with the pandemic impact period. Subsequently, the ratio rebounds significantly, reaching an extreme high of 213.24 in August 2021, followed by a sharp decrease to 44.38 in November 2021. Thereafter, the ratio shows a falling trend approaching 0.95 by February 2023 before stabilizing near 1.00 in early 2024. Such extreme fluctuations indicate periods of significant market uncertainty or structural changes in sales performance and market valuation perceptions during the pandemic and recovery phases.

Price to Book Value (P/BV) Ratio

The P/BV ratio data starts consistently in 2018 with values around 1.8 to 2.0 but then plunges to 0.25 in February 2020, reflecting a drastic reduction in market price relative to the book value, likely due to market stress or asset revaluation. Post this trough, the ratio recovered steadily, peaking at 3.85 in August 2023, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. By February 2024, the ratio moderates to 3.37, indicating the market values the company's net assets considerably higher than the book value, consistent with a recovery or growth narrative.

Overall, the data reflects significant valuation volatility across multiple financial metrics, especially pronounced around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The pronounced dips in ratios such as P/E, P/OP, P/S, and P/BV at that time correspond with broader market disruptions. The subsequent rebound and volatility, particularly in the P/S and P/BV ratios, suggest periods of rapid market reassessment possibly linked to changes in operational performance, investor sentiment, and recovery expectations. The substantial ratio spikes in 2021 and early 2024 point to episodes of elevated market optimism or revaluation relative to sales and asset bases. This pattern underscores the importance of contextual market and operational factors influencing valuation over the analyzed time frame.

The share price of the company exhibits notable fluctuations over the observed periods. Initially, from early 2018 through late 2019, the share price generally declined from 66.2 US$ to 46.5 US$. This downward trend sharply intensified into early 2020, with the price plummeting to a low of 8.49 US$ by February 2020. Subsequently, a modest recovery phase is evident, with prices gradually increasing to 29 US$ by February 2021. However, the share price again faced volatility with further decreases and intermittent rises between 2021 and 2024, ending at 17.19 US$ in February 2024.

Earnings per share (EPS) data, available from February 2019 onwards, reveal a generally declining profitability trend. The EPS started at 4.39 US$ in February 2019 and underwent a steady decrease, becoming negative by mid-2020 and persisting in negative territory through 2023. The lowest EPS recorded was -9.87 US$ in February 2021. A gradual improvement appears from late 2023, with EPS approaching a near break-even and eventually slightly positive figure of 0.31 US$ by February 2024.

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio data, although limited, show a decline from reasonable values around 12 in early 2019 to a sharp decrease to 3.22 by February 2020, reflecting both falling share price and deteriorating earnings. The P/E ratio is largely absent during periods of negative earnings but notably spikes to 55.6 by February 2024, presumably driven by the low yet positive EPS near zero, which often leads to a very high P/E ratio.

Share Price Analysis

Steady decline observed from 2018 through 2019, culminating in a sharp drop in early 2020, likely influenced by external market or operational challenges.

Partial recovery follows, with irregular fluctuations into early 2024, never reaching pre-2020 levels.

Earnings per Share (EPS) Trends

Positive EPS through early 2020 transitions to significant negative earnings from mid-2020 to early 2024, indicating sustained operational losses.

Late 2023 and early 2024 denote a recovery trend with EPS moving towards profitability.

Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio Interpretation

Initial P/E ratios reflect market confidence and earnings stability prior to 2020.

Large reductions and absence of data during periods of negative EPS highlight earnings challenges.

High P/E ratio in early 2024 suggests valuation sensitivity amid shrinking negative earnings and market uncertainty.

Overall, the data reveal a company facing significant financial stress beginning in 2020, likely related to industry-wide disruptions. Both share price and earnings suffered major setbacks during this period. Nonetheless, some indications of recovery have emerged by early 2024, reflected in improving EPS and a stabilizing share price, albeit at levels substantially below those prior to 2020. The volatility in valuation multiples further emphasizes the cautious investor sentiment during the recovery phase.

Share Price Trend

The share price experienced a gradual decline from February 2018 to November 2019, moving from $66.20 to $46.50. A sharp drop is observable in the period ending February 2020, where the price fell dramatically to $8.49. The price stabilized somewhat through 2020 and 2021 with fluctuations between approximately $15 and $29, but it remained significantly lower than pre-2020 levels. In 2022, the share price declined further reaching a low of $7.03 in August. From late 2022 into early 2024, a modest recovery is evident, with prices rising gradually to $17.19 by February 2024.

Operating Profit per Share (OPPS)

Operating profit per share data is unavailable prior to February 2019. The metric showed consistent values around $4.5 from February 2019 through February 2020. Starting May 2020, there was a notable deterioration in operating profit, with values turning negative and reaching lows near -$8 in late 2020 and early 2021, reflecting a period of significant losses. Subsequently, from mid-2021 onwards, OPPS showed gradual improvement but remained negative until late 2023. By February 2024, operating profit per share turned positive again reaching $1.84, indicating a recovery phase.

Price to Operating Profit Ratio (P/OP)

The P/OP ratio was relatively low and stable between 9 and 12 during early 2019, suggesting moderate valuation levels relative to operating profits. In early 2020, at the onset of profit decline and share price collapse, the ratio dropped significantly to 2.77, reflecting suppressed share prices relative to operating profits. The ratio data is missing for much of the 2020-2022 period, likely due to negative or absent operating profit values. Toward late 2023 and early 2024, the ratio surged to above 40 at one point and later stabilized around 9-10, indicating fluctuating market valuation relative to improving profits during recovery.

Overall Insights

The overall financial data reveals a period of stable operations and valuation up to early 2020, followed by a sharp downturn coinciding with broader market or operational challenges. The negative operating profits and dramatically lowered share price during 2020 and 2021 align, showing significant operational stress. Improvement signs appear from mid-2021 onwards, with gradual profit recovery reflected in improving OPPS and a partial rebound in share price. The volatility and recovery in valuation multiples in 2023 and early 2024 indicate renewed investor confidence amidst ongoing operational improvements.

The data reveals several notable trends in the share price, sales per share, and price-to-sales (P/S) ratio over the observed periods.

Share Price

The share price demonstrates a general declining trend from early 2018 through early 2020, dropping from a high of around $66.20 to a significant low near $8.49 by February 2020. Subsequently, there is a partial recovery during mid to late 2020, where the price rose to $29.00 by February 2021. However, the share price again declined sharply through 2022, hitting a low near $7.03 in August 2022, followed by some modest recovery towards early 2024, reaching approximately $17.19. Overall, the share price exhibits high volatility with pronounced troughs coinciding generally with the pandemic period and the following years.

Sales per Share

Sales per share data begins from February 2019, showing incremental increases over time. Initially, sales per share remain around the high 20s in early 2019 and gradually decrease post-February 2020, reflecting the pandemic impact with a sharp drop to $5.01 in August 2020 and further down to $0.12 by May 2021. From mid-2021 onwards, sales per share show steady recovery, increasing consistently each quarter to reach $17.23 by February 2024. This indicates a gradual restoration of revenue generation on a per-share basis after the crisis period.

Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio

The P/S ratio started at moderate levels around 2.15 in early 2019, then dropped notably to as low as 0.29 in February 2020 amid the share price decline. Following this, the ratio shows dramatic fluctuations: it soared to an exceptionally high 213.24 in August 2021, which likely signals a significant market valuation anomaly possibly due to very low sales per share combined with some recovery in share price. After this peak, P/S declined sharply to more normalized levels below 2 by late 2022 and early 2024, fluctuating around 1.00. This volatility in P/S ratio reflects extreme market valuation shifts relative to sales during the pandemic and recovery phase.

In summary, the data illustrates a company heavily impacted by external factors beginning in 2020, as evidenced by the sharp decline in share price and sales per share, followed by a gradual recovery trajectory. The P/S ratio underscores the market's variable sentiment and valuation relative to earnings throughout this period, marked by extreme spikes during mid-2021 when sales per share bottomed out. The trends imply persistent financial challenges with ongoing recovery efforts visible into early 2024.

Share Price Trend

The share price followed a fluctuating downward trend across the periods. From February 2018 to November 2019, the share price declined from 66.2 US$ to 46.5 US$. A sharp decline occurred starting February 2020, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a low of 8.49 US$ in February 2020 and maintaining low values throughout 2020. A moderate recovery was observed in 2021, with prices peaking at 29 US$ in February 2021 but subsequently declining again in 2022 to single-digit levels around 7 - 9 US$. Another modest recovery started in late 2022, with the share price increasing to 17.19 US$ by November 2023 and stabilizing near 17.19 US$ in early 2024.

Book Value Per Share (BVPS) Trend

The book value per share remained relatively stable from February 2018 to November 2019, fluctuating slightly between 32.48 US$ and 35.72 US$. Beginning in February 2020, BVPS experienced a continuous decline, dropping sharply in 2020 from 34.19 US$ to 18.41 US$ by November 2020. This downward trajectory persisted through 2021 and 2022, reaching a low point of 4.49 US$ in May 2023. Afterwards, a slight recovery was noted, with BVPS rising marginally to 5.1 US$ by February 2024.

Price-to-Book Value (P/BV) Ratio Trend

The P/BV ratio exhibited a declining trend from 2.01 in February 2018 to a low of 1.24 in August 2019, indicating valuation compression relative to book value. A pronounced drop occurred in February 2020 to 0.25, reflecting the significant share price decline relative to book value during the initial pandemic impact. Subsequently, a rebound in the ratio was observed through 2020 and early 2021, climbing back to around 1.96 by August 2021. The ratio then increased sharply to 2.21 in February 2022 but fell again in mid-2022 to near 1.09. From late 2022 onwards, the P/BV ratio rose significantly to a peak of 3.85 in May 2023 before moderating to 3.37 in February 2024. This volatility suggests fluctuations in investor sentiment and share price valuation relative to diminishing book value per share.

Summary Insight

The data reflect the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial metrics, notably share price and book value, which both declined substantially starting early 2020. While book value per share declined persistently through the post-pandemic years, the share price demonstrated periods of volatility with partial recoveries followed by declines. The P/BV ratio highlighted these dynamics, with extreme lows during the pandemic's onset and elevated levels in subsequent periods, reflecting a complex interaction of market valuation and asset book value erosion. Overall, the company experienced significant financial stress during the period, with some signs of stabilization and moderate recovery by early 2024.