Carnival's Booking Surge Has Wall Street Talking 2026 Already

Shares of Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) were trading lower on Wednesday, despite the company on Tuesday reporting upbeat fiscal second-quarter results.

The announcement came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways.

Goldman Sachs On Carnival

Analyst Lizzie Dove maintained a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $31 to $33.

Carnival's fiscal second-quarter results came "significantly" ahead of expectations and the upside flowed through to its 2025 guidance, Dove said in the note. The company’s indication that it is accelerating trends into May and June suggests the guidance is "somewhat conservative," she added.

The analyst continued to cite Carnival as among her top picks. "While the macro/geopolitical environment remains murky, CCL's exposure to primarily local Europe exposure and higher exposure to drive-to/shorter itineraries from the U.S. should provide some buffer to these headwinds," she further wrote.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Stifel On Carnival

Analyst Steven M. Wieczynski reaffirmed a Buy rating and raised the price target from $33 to $34.

Carnival reported gross and net revenue of $6.3 billion and $4.9 billion, ahead of the consensus of $6.2 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively, Wieczynski said. Management raised their full-year guidance for adjusted earnings from $1.83 per share to $1.97 per share and for adjusted EBITDA from $6.7 billion to $6.9 billion, he added.

While investors have been nervous about cruise demand going into 2026, given the highly uncertain consumer spending environment, Carnival's latest commentary should help alleviate those concerns, especially since the company's 2026 bookings are close to record levels, the analyst stated. Investors still seem to be "overlooking the significant FCF generation that is currently being produced which will help delever CCL's balance sheet," he further wrote.

CCL Price Action: Shares of Carnival were down 0.9% to $25.46 at the time of publication on Wednesday.

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