Good time to buy Carnival shares for the perks? And cheap cruises?

[Harry Peterson]

The outbreak of Coronavirus has hit an already weak Carnival share price:

 

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/c/carnival-plc-ordinary-usd1.66

 

For anyone considering buying, this could be an opportunity, though there's room obviously for further downward movement, depending on events.

 

Could also be a good time to pick up well-priced cruises if people decide to cancel.  

[funinhounslow]

If you buy Carnival shares now you're a braver man than me!

 

And buying any company's shares for the "perks" is a mug's game...

[CCFC]

57 minutes ago, funinhounslow said:

If you buy Carnival shares now you're a braver man than me!

 

And buying any company's shares for the "perks" is a mug's game...

Its not a mugs game with Carnival, I have had my investment returned by the on board credit alone so I cant lose! The dividends are around £150 a year too.

[wowzz]

15 minutes ago, CCFC said:

Its not a mugs game with Carnival, I have had my investment returned by the on board credit alone so I cant lose! The dividends are around £150 a year too.

Agreed. Although I am sitting on a paper loss at the minute, I'm still earning the equivalent of 4% interest on the dividend alone, let alone the obc.

Whilst the shares are tanking at the moment, over the long term I would expect them to recover to at least the £40 or so mark.

[brian1]

Could be worse,you could be a West Ham mug like me.Mugged off by them and Carnival.£4700 2 years ago,went up to over £5000,now £1500 down.Dividends are still better than most other investments.The only way is up,lol. Keep hanging on.

[funinhounslow]

31 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Agreed. Although I am sitting on a paper loss at the minute, I'm still earning the equivalent of 4% interest on the dividend alone, let alone the obc.

Whilst the shares are tanking at the moment, over the long term I would expect them to recover to at least the £40 or so mark.

 

Really?!

 

What can you see happening that would cause them to increase by 25%

[Harry Peterson]

9 minutes ago, funinhounslow said:

 

Really?!

 

What can you see happening that would cause them to increase by 25%

No evidence for that, but if anyone’s looking to buy now’s possibly a good time, in that the price is perhaps temporarily depressed.

 

A couple of weasel words there, and if Coronavirus really takes off the price will plummet.

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, funinhounslow said:

 

Really?!

 

What can you see happening that would cause them to increase by 25%

Over the next ten years I see a continued expansion of the cruise market, especially in the Far East, where Carnival is already dramatically increasing their presence.

Sure, the flu panic is causing a short term share price fall, but the business is basically sound, and over a 10 to 15  year time scale the shares are a good long term buy, especially at the current price. Obviously, just my opinion- we'll see if I am right in 2035!

[davecttr]

I must be a mug, I bought my 100 shares for £2200 years ago and with tax free dividends and extra onboard credit I am a mug with a smiley face.

Edited January 31, 2020 by davecttr

[terrierjohn]

24 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I must be a mug, I bought my 100 shares for £2200 years ago and with tax free dividends and extra onboard credit I am a mug with a smiley face.

Totally agree, I bought mine 8 years ago and have had about 20  fourteen day cruises since then.  As a result from the OBC and dividends they are now fully paid off, and showing a handsome profit.

Edited January 31, 2020 by terrierjohn

[Harry Peterson]

All a matter of timing, and luck. 100 shares bought a year ago would now be showing a loss of £1100+.

[brian1]

2 hours ago, funinhounslow said:

 

Really?!

 

What can you see happening that would cause them to increase by 25%

You and all the others filling that Iona and joining the Gary Barlow fan club.

[funinhounslow]

23 minutes ago, brian1 said:

You and all the others filling that Iona and joining the Gary Barlow fan club.

 

🤣🤣🤣

[AndyMichelle]

4 hours ago, brian1 said:

Could be worse,you could be a West Ham mug like me.Mugged off by them and Carnival.£4700 2 years ago,went up to over £5000,now £1500 down.Dividends are still better than most other investments.The only way is up,lol. Keep hanging on.

You need to dip your hands in your pocket again Brian, we are a bit short on buying the lad from Hull.. 

Can you make sure Lady Brady has it by 11 tonight please... 

Andy 

[brian1]

5 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

You need to dip your hands in your pocket again Brian, we are a bit short on buying the lad from Hull.. 

Can you make sure Lady Brady has it by 11 tonight please... 

Andy 

I was talking about my 100 Carnival shares,not the West Ham mug I bought.It might be fun playing Millwall next year,lol.

[brian1]

Just read about that Hull bloke.Cheeky sod,he should pay us to move out of Hull.lol.

[Son of Anarchy]

4 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

No evidence for that, but if anyone’s looking to buy now’s possibly a good time, in that the price is perhaps temporarily depressed.

 

A couple of weasel words there, and if Coronavirus really takes off the price will plummet.

 

If that happens, I'll be topping up.  The dividends are currently giving a better return than if I had invested on the high street, and over £500 obc this year.

[CCFC]

I will get back just under £500 from a £2000 investment this year, three future cruises booked. Certainly not a mugs game.

[Manx buoy]

£1150 back this year from £2500 initial cost smug mug🤷‍♂️

[yorkshirephil]

We bought ours many moons ago at £1800, we have had double that in divi's and OBC and still have a paper value of £3100. No one knows what will happen in the future. Carnival shares were £30 in 2015 and had reached £ 53 by 2017 and back to £31 in 2020. You pay your money and take your chances, bit like booking a cruise, just saying.

[funinhounslow]

Down to under £30 this morning following US State Dept advice to give cruises in Asia a miss for now...

Edited February 24, 2020 by funinhounslow

[Son of Anarchy]

Still needs to drop a bit more, at least £10 to tempt me into buying more.

[terrierjohn]

Same for me, but not really considering buying more, I bought them for the OBC, and I know that's generally frowned on, but we have had about 15 two week cruises since we bought them plus the dividends, and on the OBC alone we are well in profit.

[eddie11]

It feels to me that the obvious answer to the question in the thread title is NO

 

However, once this epidemic/pandemic is consigned to history (🤞) and after the share price has hit rock bottom and is on the way back up, then that might be a very shrewd time to either buy for the first time to gain obc and dividends, or to purchase more simply for the dividend

[IDB37]

If current trends continue for very long, the dividend will likey be substantially cut. 

 

It's not just the 'soft' level of bookings (translation, they've bombed big time), it's also the massive costs associated with all of the cancellations, re-routing, staff dislocations, etc. etc..

 

Unfortunately, the outlook is for choppy seas for some time methinks.