Is CCL a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Carnival Corporation & plc on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how CCL compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Carnival Corporation & plc's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to CCL based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes CCL a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

CCL - Carnival Corporation & plc

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $36.17 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

F 30.0 / 100 pillar composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for stable earnings power businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

⚠ 3 of the last 5 fiscal years showed negative net income — AlphaQuality will not grade above F for persistent unprofitability in a stable earnings power business.

Grade overrides the 30.0 pillar composite because hard gates always win. Use the pillar breakdown below to see where the underlying numbers sit.

Profitability

Weight: 20%

D 35.2

5yr Avg ROIC -1.3% 7/100
Operating Margin Trend +82.70 pp/yr 100/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

F 0.0

5yr Avg ROE -17.9% 0/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 5.7% 0/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

A+ 96.0

5yr Revenue CAGR 93.3% 100/100
5yr EPS CAGR 40.3% 100/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 4/5 80/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

D 36.5

5yr FCF Margin -87.8% 0/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 0.81x 81/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

D 34.7

Net Debt / EBITDA 3.77x 35/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 3.05x 46/100
Altman Z-Score 1.28 22/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

B- 67.2

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.38 46/100
Piotroski F-Score 8 89/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 1/5 80/100

4 of 5 gurus held; 4 trimmed; 1 full exit.

Holders: 4 -1
Avg Δ position: -10.0%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 1

Dalio sold -100%
Wood decreased -25%
Greenblatt decreased -7%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (20%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (15%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (20%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (15%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.