The Dividend Daily

Cruise and vacation company Carnival Corporation (CCL) will report its fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday. Nomura Securities analysts say investors should be ready to buy following pullback if CCL guidance is weak.

Wall Street analysts are expecting Carnival to report EPS of 11 cents on revenues of $3.54 billion. Analysts at Nomura Securities believe that Carnival will also report a conservative guidance for 2013 as the company has historically been conservative with expectations.

“If guidance is conservative, as we expect it to be, and both CCL and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) pull back, we would buy both on weakness,” Nomura analyst Harry C. Curtis said.

Nomura Securities has a “Buy” rating on CCL and a price target of $42.00. The price target is a +9% upside to Monday’s closing price of $38.60.

Carnival shares were up 40 cents, or +1.04%, in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Carnival Corporation (CCL) have a 2.59% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $38.60. The stock has technical support in the $34-$35 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $40-$41 price levels.

Carnival Corporation (CCL) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.