Stock Market Today, Dec. 19: Carnival Jumps on Record Profits and Dividend Reinstatement

Carnival (NYSE:CCL), which operates a fleet of over 100 cruise ships across various brands, closed Friday’s session at $31.12, up 9.8% on strong earnings, dividend news, and guidance. Carnival IPO'd in 1987 and has grown 690% since going public. Trading volume today reached 83.3 million shares, which is approximately 250% above its three-month average of 23.3 million shares.

Friday’s catalyst was Carnival’s record full-year 2025 profits, its reinstated dividend, and an upbeat 2026 outlook.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) added 0.88% to close near 6,835, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) climbed 1.31% to finish around 23,308. Among Cruise Lines, industry peers Royal Caribbean and Norwegian also advanced, as investors are focusing on sector-wide booking strength and recent upgrades following Norwegian’s $1 billion EBITDA milestone.

What this means for investors

Carnival delivered record full-year revenue and adjusted earnings per share when it reported fourth-quarter earnings this morning. Despite falling slightly short of Wall Street's sales estimate, Carnival's stock surged as management provided a rosy outlook for the next two years, driven by record bookings for 2026 and 2027.

If all these record-setting figures weren't enough, Carnival announced that it was reinstating its quarterly dividend at $0.15 per share, following its $10 billion debt reduction since 2023. This would result in a 1.9% dividend yield at today's share price.

Guiding for adjusted EBITDA of $7.63 billion in 2026, Carnival only trades at 8.3x next year's EBITDA guidance, so it could be an intriguing investment at today's reasonable valuation.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Carnival Corp. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.