Carnival vs Delta Air Lines
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The short version
- Delta Air Lines is the larger business, with $63.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $26.6B for Carnival, about 2.4 times as much.
- Carnival grew revenue faster (6.4%, against 2.8%).
- Carnival kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (16.8% operating margin, against 9.2%).
- Carnival turned more of its sales into free cash flow (9.8% FCF margin, against 6.1%).
- Delta Air Lines earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (16.0%, against 12.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Delta Air Lines’s earnings: a P/E of 15.3x against 11.4x for Carnival.
| Latest fiscal year | CCL · FY25 | DAL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $35.7B | $50.6B |
| Revenue | $26.6B | $63.4B |
| Free cash flow | $2.6B | $3.8B |
| Net income | $2.8B | $5.0B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 6.4% | 2.8% |
| 5-year growth | 36.6% | 30.0% |
| Share count change | 0.3% | 0.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 16.8% | 9.2% |
| Net margin | 10.4% | 7.9% |
| FCF margin | 9.8% | 6.1% |
| Return on capital | 12.1% | 16.0% |
| Return on equity | 25.6% | 27.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $25.5B | $9.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.5x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $440M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 11.4x | 15.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
CCL $16.4B
DAL $39.6B
FY17
CCL $17.5B
DAL $41.2B
FY18
CCL $18.9B
DAL $44.4B
FY19
CCL $20.8B
DAL $47.0B
FY20
CCL $5.6B
DAL $17.1B
FY21
CCL $1.9B
DAL $29.9B
FY22
CCL $12.2B
DAL $50.6B
FY23
CCL $21.6B
DAL $58.0B
FY24
CCL $25.0B
DAL $61.6B
FY25
CCL $26.6B
DAL $63.4B
CCL
DAL
Operating margin
FY16
CCL 18.7%
DAL 17.7%
FY17
CCL 16.0%
DAL 14.5%
FY18
CCL 17.6%
DAL 11.9%
FY19
CCL 15.7%
DAL 14.1%
FY20
CCL −158.5%
DAL −72.9%
FY21
CCL −371.5%
DAL 6.3%
FY22
CCL −36.0%
DAL 7.2%
FY23
CCL 9.1%
DAL 9.5%
FY24
CCL 14.3%
DAL 9.7%
FY25
CCL 16.8%
DAL 9.2%
CCL
DAL
Free cash flow
FY16
CCL $2.1B
DAL $3.8B
FY17
CCL $2.4B
DAL $1.1B
FY18
CCL $1.8B
DAL $1.8B
FY19
CCL $46.0M
DAL $3.5B
FY20
CCL −$9.9B
DAL −$5.7B
FY21
CCL −$7.7B
DAL $17.0M
FY22
CCL −$6.6B
DAL −$3.0M
FY23
CCL $997M
DAL $1.1B
FY24
CCL $1.3B
DAL $2.9B
FY25
CCL $2.6B
DAL $3.8B
CCL
DAL
Return on capital
FY16
CCL 9.8%
DAL —
FY17
CCL 8.4%
DAL 20.8%
FY18
CCL 9.6%
DAL 20.1%
FY19
CCL 9.0%
DAL 22.5%
FY20
CCL −18.0%
DAL −49.0%
FY21
CCL −14.0%
DAL 7.4%
FY22
CCL −9.5%
DAL 11.9%
FY23
CCL 4.6%
DAL 18.0%
FY24
CCL 10.4%
DAL 16.0%
FY25
CCL 12.1%
DAL 16.0%
CCL
DAL
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.