Carnival share price

Hi, I have been watching the share price for a while now and have been considering buying the minimum of 100 shares just for the OBC. Prices have dropped further this week. On previous cruises have met quite a lot of people who have recommended it. Trying to decide whether to take the plunge or just add the cash to my ISA savings? Anyone else thinking of buying at the moment?

I think a good buy, Approx £60.00 per year Divi, and a big plus with O.B.S.:)

If you want investment and financial advice you're on the wrong board.

 

Stock, like any other speculative investment, has risks. None of us here are in a position to know how much of your total assets it would take to buy Carnival stock just to get OBC. If you buy it, do so only if it is money you can afford to loose. Anything from fuel prices to global political instability to environmental zealotry can affect the price of cruise line stock.

A good buy if you cruise often but obviously not without risk!

I bought a few years ago at $30 and sold at $40 recently

Got back in yesterday at just under $38

the dividend is .25 a share.

:)

I think that a board where people ask whether they will be warm enough in a polo shirt or whether they will be able to sunbathe in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean wouldn't be my first point of reference for investment advice.

Thanks for the replies, especially Luckymal and Welshgirl. I wasn't actually looking for financial advice and that's why I posted on this board, it was more just thinking out loud and thought if I heard from others who have felt the benefits of the OBC and dividends were a real bonus then it may be worth the gamble! If I couldn't afford it I wouldn't be considering it 'cos you're never going to get rich from 100 shares!

We have just completed a 15 day cruise on the Q.M.2. Received 250 Dollars o.b.s. next month we are on Q.V. another 250 Dollars o.b.s. I think it is a great return, more you cruise more you gain. Always remember we cannot take it with us. I was speaking to a guy in Liverpool once when one of the Queens was visiting, I passed the remark people can not take their money with them. He replied I am, I'm taking travellers cheques.

... I was speaking to a guy in Liverpool once when one of the Queens was visiting, I passed the remark people can not take their money with them. He replied I am, I'm taking travellers cheques.

I wonder if he knew that while you certainly may take travelers cheques on board the Queens you even more certainly can't use them on board.

Hi, I have been watching the share price for a while now and have been considering buying the minimum of 100 shares just for the OBC. ...

I've enjoyed a dozen bookings on QM2 since I first became a CCL shareholder; just for the shareholder OBC, it's been a great investment for me.

OK you've been tut-tutted enough about allegedly asking in the wrong spot for financial advice. I'll give you some. Disclosure: I do not own Carnival stock, nor do I intend to purchase any in the next while. Secondary Disclosure: free advice like mine is so often worth what you pay for it!

 

100 shares = $3,800. Some factoids:

Annual dividend: $100 = 2.63%. This is good, as long as the earnings are more than the dividend. Earnings are $140, which seem to be plenty.

Price (per share)/Earnings (per share) = 27. That's actually expensive compared to the broader (US) stock market. That's not great.

 

Let's say your on-board credit = $250/year.

Your total enhanced dividend (assuming you'd spend the $250) is now $350/year, over 9% on $3,800. Best of all, the on-board-credit, in most places, is untaxed.

 

The share price will bounce around. It should do better in good economic times and worse in bad. It'll drop when there are accidents on the seas. But if you're buying this share, don't even look at the share price more often than one a year unless it gives you giggles to do so.

 

People who look at share prices are chicken farmers, looking at the price they can sell their chickens for. You're buying a $3,800 chicken, but you're not all that interested in selling it on. You're not a chicken farmer. You're interested in its annual $350 egg. You, are an egg farmer.

 

The industry looks reasonably stable right now, the broader economy is not an abject disaster, the real cash dividend is less than the earnings, your effective 9% rate of return doesn't seem unreasonable and yet it is attractive.

 

I recommend that if the $3,800 won't cause you financial hardship, and you think you'll cruise on a Carnival-owned ship for 14 days a year, to BUY is an excellent idea.

I recommend that if the $3,800 won't cause you financial hardship, and you think you'll cruise on a Carnival-owned ship for 14 days a year, to BUY is an excellent idea.

 

Not much more to say but, isn't CC wonderful.

 

David.

Edited June 27, 2014 by balf

I was unlucky enough (or stupid) to buy at just about the highest price. However, I have never regretted it as I have had far more back in obc and dividends than I would lose if I cashed them in today. I only manage one or (if I am lucky) two cruises a year as I am still working and it has definitely been good for us.

I will speak as an American. I have the CCL stock in my Roth IRA. This is one of my retirement accounts. As I do not have a need to pull this money out, the stock stays there. In addition to the dividend, I have pulled out almost $2000 in OBC over the past 5 years.

To me this is free money. I do not have any other stock in my portfolio which gives me a return that is close to this and it is one 'dividend' that does not have to be declared on my income tax.

Any OBC I have received as a CCL stockholder has been applied to my Hotel and Dining Charge. Yes, I could have removed that charge, but that is something I would not do- so any benefit I derived went back into the corporation.

 

 

Micky Arison is the largest single shareholder of CCL stocks. Take a look at how many shares he sold over the last 3 months (allegedly for estate planning). Estimates are that Mr.Arison (or his estate) was almost 5 million dollars the richer as a result of the sale of his stock over the past three months. His stock was sold at a good average price. - just about the same price at which I sold my stock ($40 per share) - the price I paid for it years ago.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Salacia

OK you've been tut-tutted enough about allegedly asking in the wrong spot for financial advice. I'll give you some. Disclosure: I do not own Carnival stock, nor do I intend to purchase any in the next while. Secondary Disclosure: free advice like mine is so often worth what you pay for it!

 

100 shares = $3,800. Some factoids:

Annual dividend: $100 = 2.63%. This is good, as long as the earnings are more than the dividend. Earnings are $140, which seem to be plenty.

Price (per share)/Earnings (per share) = 27. That's actually expensive compared to the broader (US) stock market. That's not great.

 

Let's say your on-board credit = $250/year.

Your total enhanced dividend (assuming you'd spend the $250) is now $350/year, over 9% on $3,800. Best of all, the on-board-credit, in most places, is untaxed.

 

The share price will bounce around. It should do better in good economic times and worse in bad. It'll drop when there are accidents on the seas. But if you're buying this share, don't even look at the share price more often than one a year unless it gives you giggles to do so.

 

People who look at share prices are chicken farmers, looking at the price they can sell their chickens for. You're buying a $3,800 chicken, but you're not all that interested in selling it on. You're not a chicken farmer. You're interested in its annual $350 egg. You, are an egg farmer.

 

The industry looks reasonably stable right now, the broader economy is not an abject disaster, the real cash dividend is less than the earnings, your effective 9% rate of return doesn't seem unreasonable and yet it is attractive.

 

I recommend that if the $3,800 won't cause you financial hardship, and you think you'll cruise on a Carnival-owned ship for 14 days a year, to BUY is an excellent idea.

 

Ok, just as a discussion: CCL stock has a 52 week high of of $41.89, and low of $31.44

 

That's a pretty big spread of almost $1,ooo per 100 shares.

 

A 14 day cruise will get you a max of $250 OBC which you can apply to your Hotel and dining charge, and if you hold onto the stock for a year, you might get $100 in dividends, which are taxable where I live.

 

The current purchase price is $37.94. If it falls to the lowest 52 week price of $31.44, you'll lose money if you sell it, unless you have made the difference up in OBC and dividends - and for that, you'd have to sail more that 14 days per year and own the stock more than a year - however many voyages and dividend years it would take to make up the difference between the price you paid the for the stock and the amount you sold it for (plus any brokers fees, taxes, etc.)

 

So my conclusion is: I don't know whether it is an "excellent idea" as Shawn suggested or not: I'd say it's a crap shoot. (But Shawn certainly sounds more knowledgeable:).)

Edited June 29, 2014 by Salacia

 

The current purchase price is $37.94. If it falls to the lowest 52 week price of $31.44, you'll lose money if you sell it,

 

"If a share price falls you'll lose money". This applies to all shares and it would be just as valid to say you would make money if the price rose.

 

I can't get your logic. Carnival shares are priced by the market as are all shares. They pay a reasonable dividend by present day standards: better than cash in the UK anyway and it could be argued that they are a reasonable choice to hold in their own right. But if you cruise regularly with Cunard or any other Carnival ship and can afford the price of a 100 they are a no brainier.

 

David.

 

David.

Trying to decide whether to take the plunge or just add the cash to my ISA savings?

 

You could always put the shares into an ISA. Cash ISAs pay a pittance anyway so that's what I'd do.

Ignoring the share price, it will depend on how many Carnival owned ship and how many cruises you intend to take on them. If you intend to take more than one a year, the OBC combined with the dividend should give somewhere around £200 based on 2 x 12day ish cruises. 14 day cruises will give you nearly double. The shares would have to drop and awful lot to wipe out the income generated from your share investment. I was lucky and managed to buy mine when the shares were at £16 each :D Based on current price of £22.40 per share, 2 x 14 day cruises on Cunard will give you $500 OBC plus dividend total roughly £360 on a £2240 investment, I'll let you work out the percentage. Obviously, share prices can go down, and Carnival could scrap the OBC system, but I somehow don't think they will as I am sure their share prices would plummet as they did the year they decided not to issue any dividend, the year I took out my investment.

Edited June 29, 2014 by ovccruiser

I wonder if he knew that while you certainly may take travelers cheques on board the Queens you even more certainly can't use them on board.

 

Sorry British humour, The meaning was you can not take your money with you when you are dead, but the Liverpool man said I am taking my money with me in Travellers Cheques.(Joke)

Sorry British humour, The meaning was you can not take your money with you when you are dead, but the Liverpool man said I am taking my money with me in Travellers Cheques.(Joke)

You know, I suspected as much, but having recently researched Cunard's policy on T-Cheques I just thought I'd share that knowledge with Liverpool. I love British humor, even the occasional curate's egg episodes. The Wrong Box (1966) is my favorite movie comedy, and it features many hilariously obscene eggs. Edited June 29, 2014 by pmb1

Sorry British humour, The meaning was you can not take your money with you when you are dead, but the Liverpool man said I am taking my money with me in Travellers Cheques.(Joke)

 

With Scousers it's not what they say it's the way they say it.

 

David.

Thanks for acknowledging , I think most of Americans find British humour very strange, also we Brits can find your humour also strange:):)

Thanks for acknowledging , I think most of Americans find British humour very strange, also we Brits can find your humour also strange:):)

 

Oh you do, do you? Looking for an argument?...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

 

:D -S.

"If a share price falls you'll lose money". This applies to all shares and it would be just as valid to say you would make money if the price rose.

I can't get your logic. Carnival shares are priced by the market as are all shares. They pay a reasonable dividend by present day standards: better than cash in the UK anyway and it could be argued that they are a reasonable choice to hold in their own right. But if you cruise regularly with Cunard or any other Carnival ship and can afford the price of a 100 they are a no brainier.

 

David.

 

David.

 

Hi David. Yes, that was my point: any stock can go up or down after purchase price - that's what makes the purchase of any stock a crap shoot, and not a "no brainer", even the purchase of our 'beloved' Carnival Cruise Line stock.

 

I noticed that thus far, the majority of response is to buy CCL stock for both the dividend and on-board credits. But no one has recommended a purchase price, and several responses are based on CCL stock purchased when the price was far below the current price.

 

As has been pointed out previously, this is not the place for financial advice, but I find it to be an interesting discussion. Cheers, -S.

Oh you do, do you? Looking for an argument?...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

 

:D -S.