Cruise lines · 12/36 against 13/36 checks · to 2026-09-08
CCL vs RCL.
CarnivalRuns the world's largest cruise company: Carnival, Princess, Holland America and more.
Royal CaribbeanRuns Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines.→Carnival (CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) are within reach of each other at $31.8B and $70.7B, and on the filings Royal Caribbean passes more, 13 checks of 36 against 12.
Which passes more checks?
widest gap first→No axis separates them by more than 2 of six checks, and the widest is Shareholder returns. They score identically on 4 of the six, so the difference between them is narrower than a headline suggests.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Shareholder returns | 0/6 | 2/6 |
| Value | 3/6 | 2/6 |
| Growth | 3/6 | 3/6 |
| Quality | 4/6 | 4/6 |
| Health | 2/6 | 2/6 |
| Trend analysis | 0/6 | 0/6 |
| All checks | 12/36 | 13/36 |
→Carnival turns over $27.3B to Royal Caribbean's $18.7B, 1.5 times as much. Carnival keeps 11.2% of revenue as profit against 23.5% at Royal Caribbean.
Which hands more back to owners?
→Royal Caribbean pays 1.2% at today's price and Carnival effectively pays nothing, which is the clearest difference in what each hands back.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | - | 1.2% |
| Payout ratio | 0.0% | 18.7% |
| Years of unbroken dividend | - | - |
Which is cheaper?
→Carnival is the cheaper of the two on earnings, 10.6x against 16.5x. Against their own histories, Carnival is below its 12.8x median and Royal Caribbean is above its 14.1x.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Share price | $23.20 | $264.50 |
| Market cap | $31.8B | $70.7B |
| P/E | 10.6x | 16.5x |
| P/E, own median own 6-year median / own 8-year median | 12.8x | 14.1x |
| P/S | 1.2x | 3.8x |
| Free cash flow yield | 10.1% | -0.6% |
Which is growing faster, CCL or RCL?
→Royal Caribbean grew revenue faster last year, +8.7% against +5.2% at Carnival - 4 points apart. Over three years the order is the same, Carnival at +29.8% and Royal Caribbean at +26.6%.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (TTM) | $27.3B | $18.7B |
| Revenue growth, 1 year | +5.2% | +8.7% |
| Revenue CAGR, 3 years | +29.8% | +26.6% |
| Net income (TTM) | $3.1B | $4.4B |
| Free cash flow (TTM) | $3.2B | $-416M |
Which keeps more of each sale?
→Royal Caribbean keeps more of each sale: gross margin of 49.1% against 41.9%, a gap of 7 points that flows into everything below it.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 41.9% | 49.1% |
| Operating margin | 16.3% | 27.3% |
| Return on equity | 23.7% | 43.0% |
Which balance sheet is stronger?
→Both lean on debt to a similar degree, 1.92x to equity at Carnival and 2.23x at Royal Caribbean.
| CCL | RCL | |
|---|---|---|
| Debt / equity | 1.92x | 2.23x |
| Interest coverage | 3.7x | 5.0x |
| Cash and short-term investments | $2.2B | $875M |
Where they differ most
the checks behind the gapShareholder returns: Royal Caribbean 2 ahead
- Buybacks outpace the stock issued to staff $2.0B bought back vs $151M of stock compensation
- Meaningful yield to owners (dividends and buybacks) $3.1B returned, 4.4% of market value
- Share count isn't climbing shares up 18.8% over 3 years
- Buybacks outpace the stock issued to staff no buybacks against $103M of stock compensation
- Hands cash back to owners no dividends and no buybacks in the last twelve months
Value: Carnival 1 ahead
- Earnings yield beats a long bond (4%) 9.4% vs 4.0%
- Free cash flow yield above 3% 10.1% vs 3.0%
- Cheap on enterprise value 7.43 vs 14.00 (peer median)
- Free cash flow yield above 3% FCF yield -0.6%
- Price isn't outrunning growth no positive three-year earnings growth behind the price