Carnival selloff creates buying opportunity ahead of guidance, says Stifel

Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski says the firm "absolutely are buyers" of Carnival shares heading into next week’s earnings release and concurrent disclosure of FY23 guidance as "this short-term trading call seems pretty simple to us." The firm e believes expectations are "subdued" based on the recent trading weakness and notes that the company has "a history of providing ultraconservative initial guidance." While this normally would concern the firm, which admits that the company’s initial EBITDA midpoint "might be below" buyside expectations that it thinks are "actually pretty rational right now," Stifel believes Carnival’s qualitative commentary will be strong enough to show investors there should be back-half loaded potential upside. The firm keeps a Buy rating and $18 price target on Carnival shares.