Carnival Corporation CCL

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-cyclical

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
52/100
Moderate

Ranked against 19 peers in Travel Services

About Carnival Corporation

Carnival Corporation & plc, a cruise company, provides leisure travel services in North America, Australia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: North America Cruise Operations, Europe Cruise Operations, Cruise Support, and Tour and Other. It operates port destinations and islands, as well as owns and operates hotels, lodges, glass-domed railcars, and motorcoaches. The company offers its services … Full CCL analysis →

Key strengths

  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 70.6th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
  • Operating Expense Control OpEx growth is controlled (score 0.71), demonstrating operating leverage.

Key risks

  • Commodity Pressure / Weak Differentiation Gross margin at 11.8th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.12), suggesting weak customer stickiness.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Developing
29
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where CCL ranks in Travel Services

Carnival Corporation ranks #10 of 20 scored companies in Travel Services by moat score — the top 50%. The widest moat in the group is Booking Holdings Inc. Common St (BKNG) at 76/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
6 Viking Holdings Ltd VIK 62/100 Moderate
7 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL 59/100 Moderate
8 MakeMyTrip Limited MMYT 58/100 Moderate
9 Carnival Plc CUK 54/100 Moderate
10 Carnival Corporation CCL 52/100 Moderate
11 TripAdvisor, Inc. TRIP 51/100 Moderate
12 Lindblad Expeditions Holdings I LIND 45/100 Developing
13 Tuniu Corporation TOUR 45/100 Developing
14 Yatra Online, Inc. YTRA 43/100 Developing

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How CCL scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 28 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 82 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 36 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 65 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 44 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 70 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding CCL's moat

What is Carnival Corporation's moat score?

Carnival Corporation (CCL) scores 52 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #10 of 20 scored companies in Travel Services, the top 50%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 19 companies in Travel Services. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (82/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (28/100).

How does Carnival Corporation compare with other Travel Services companies?

Carnival Corporation ranks #10 of 20 scored companies in Travel Services by moat score. The widest moat in Travel Services is Booking Holdings Inc. Common St (BKNG) at 76/100. The companies ranked closest are Carnival Plc (CUK) at 54 just above it and TripAdvisor, Inc. (TRIP) at 51 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 19 companies in Travel Services. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Carnival Corporation scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Carnival Corporation?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and CCL scores: Pricing Power (28), Cost Advantage (82), Customer Stickiness (36), Capital Efficiency (65), Resilience (44), Scale & Market Position (70). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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