Carnival vs United Airlines
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The short version
- United Airlines is the larger business, with $59.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $26.6B for Carnival, about 2.2 times as much.
- Carnival grew revenue faster (6.4%, against 3.5%).
- Carnival kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (16.8% operating margin, against 8.0%).
- Carnival turned more of its sales into free cash flow (9.8% FCF margin, against 4.3%).
- United Airlines earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (15.3%, against 12.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Carnival’s earnings: a P/E of 11.4x against 9.0x for United Airlines.
| Latest fiscal year | CCL · FY25 | UAL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $35.7B | $32.1B |
| Revenue | $26.6B | $59.1B |
| Free cash flow | $2.6B | $2.6B |
| Net income | $2.8B | $3.4B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 6.4% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 36.6% | 30.9% |
| Share count change | 0.3% | −1.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 16.8% | 8.0% |
| Net margin | 10.4% | 5.7% |
| FCF margin | 9.8% | 4.3% |
| Return on capital | 12.1% | 15.3% |
| Return on equity | 25.6% | 24.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $25.5B | $9.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.5x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $637M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 11.4x | 9.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
CCL $16.4B
UAL $36.6B
FY17
CCL $17.5B
UAL $37.7B
FY18
CCL $18.9B
UAL $41.3B
FY19
CCL $20.8B
UAL $43.3B
FY20
CCL $5.6B
UAL $15.4B
FY21
CCL $1.9B
UAL $24.6B
FY22
CCL $12.2B
UAL $45.0B
FY23
CCL $21.6B
UAL $53.7B
FY24
CCL $25.0B
UAL $57.1B
FY25
CCL $26.6B
UAL $59.1B
CCL
UAL
Operating margin
FY16
CCL 18.7%
UAL 11.9%
FY17
CCL 16.0%
UAL 9.6%
FY18
CCL 17.6%
UAL 7.8%
FY19
CCL 15.7%
UAL 9.9%
FY20
CCL −158.5%
UAL −41.4%
FY21
CCL −371.5%
UAL −4.2%
FY22
CCL −36.0%
UAL 5.2%
FY23
CCL 9.1%
UAL 7.8%
FY24
CCL 14.3%
UAL 8.9%
FY25
CCL 16.8%
UAL 8.0%
CCL
UAL
Free cash flow
FY16
CCL $2.1B
UAL $2.3B
FY17
CCL $2.4B
UAL −$396M
FY18
CCL $1.8B
UAL $2.1B
FY19
CCL $46.0M
UAL $2.4B
FY20
CCL −$9.9B
UAL −$5.9B
FY21
CCL −$7.7B
UAL −$40.0M
FY22
CCL −$6.6B
UAL $1.2B
FY23
CCL $997M
UAL −$260M
FY24
CCL $1.3B
UAL $3.8B
FY25
CCL $2.6B
UAL $2.6B
CCL
UAL
Return on capital
FY16
CCL 9.8%
UAL 17.4%
FY17
CCL 8.4%
UAL 15.5%
FY18
CCL 9.6%
UAL 13.6%
FY19
CCL 9.0%
UAL 16.0%
FY20
CCL −18.0%
UAL −23.5%
FY21
CCL −14.0%
UAL −3.9%
FY22
CCL −9.5%
UAL 8.3%
FY23
CCL 4.6%
UAL 14.1%
FY24
CCL 10.4%
UAL 16.2%
FY25
CCL 12.1%
UAL 15.3%
CCL
UAL
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.