Shares in cruise operator Carnival Corporation (CCL) climbed over 9% on Friday morning as investors shrugged off its Q4 2025 mixed performance. Instead, focus turned to Carnival’s return to paying dividends and plans to unify its dual listing strategy.
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Carniva wrapped up the fiscal year with a quarterly earnings per share of $0.31 on revenue of $6.33 billion. The EPS soared by 121% from $0.14 a year ago and comfortably surpassed the consensus of $0.25 on Wall Street.
However, the revenue fell short of the projected $6.37 bilion despite growing about 7% year-over-year. The revenue generated $422 million in profit for the cruise operator.
Why Is Dividend Returning?
In October 2020, Carnival suspended the payment of dividends to improve its liquidity and comply with its debt agreements. However, the company on Friday noted that it has successfully completed its $19 billion refinancing plan in less than a year.
The leisure travel company added that it had “reached a meaningful turning point,” having reduced its debt by over $10 billion from a peak seen less than three years ago. Carnival, therefore, rolled out an initial dividend payment plan of 15 cents per share.
It plans to begin paying the dividend on February 27, 2026, to shareholders of record as of February 13, 2026.
Carnival Plans Sole Listing in U.S.
Carnival, which expects below-consensus earnings next quarter but to beat Wall Street’s forecasts for FY2026, also announced plans to make its shares tradeable solely on the New York Stock Exchange.
To achieve this, the company plans to make Carnival PLC its wholly-owned UK subsidiary, with shares in the entity and its American Depositary Receipts delisted from U.S. and UK exchanges. The goal is to increase the liquidity of the company’s shares, improve governance and reporting, and prune down administrative costs.
Is CCL a Good Stock to Buy?
Across Wall Street, Carnival’s shares continue to carry a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 14 Buys and four Holds issued by 18 analysts over the past three months.
In addition, the average CCL price target of $35.84 implies more than 16% upside from current trading levels.
