The cruise company will report third-quarter results before tomorrow's open
The shares of Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) are down 3.8% at $10.01 this afternoon, as the cruise company readies to report third-quarter financial results before the open tomorrow. Wall Street anticipates Carnival to post losses of 15 cents per share on revenue of $4.9 billion.
A look at the equity's history of post-earnings reactions over the past two years shows a generally positive response. During its last eight reports, five of these next-day sessions were higher, including a 12.4% pop following its last earnings call in June. Carnival stock averaged a post-earnings swing of 3.2% the last eight quarters, regardless of direction. This time around, the options market is pricing in a much larger move of 6.7%.
On the charts, Carnival stock sits 50% lower in 2022. The shares have traded in a tight range between $11 and $9 this summer, and remain awfully close to CCL's two-year lows of $8.10 from June 30. More recently, the 100-day moving average cut short a rally just above the $11 level.
Options traders have favored puts ahead of earnings. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio that ranks higher than all but 10% of readings from the past year. This means puts are getting picked up at a much faster-than-usual pace.