Citi even more confident in Carnival shares post results

Citi analyst James Hardiman keeps a Buy rating on Carnival with an $18 price target following the company’s Q2 report. The firm says that while management has a lot of work to do to prove the veracity of its new Sea Change program, it came away “extremely encouraged” by the value implied by the company’s long-term outlook. The post-earnings selloff “very much misses the forest” of a strong quarter, an accelerating pricing environment, and substantial earnings power built into the long-term guidance “for the trees” of stubborn cost inflation and results that were weaker than heightened buy-side expectations, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi says the Q2 performance gives it “even more confidence in the upside potential” of Carnival shares.