Waters remain choppy for Carnival (CCL -0.34%).
At a time when many consumer stocks are trading near their all-time highs, Carnival stock is trading closer to its 52-week low.
The world's leading cruise line operator has had some unfortunate mishaps on sailings at its Costa and namesake lines, and the market's penalizing Carnival for the setbacks. Analysts have been scaling back their projections, fearing that potential passengers will steer clear of the Carnival brand for their next cruise booking.
This is a dinner bell for Carnival's smaller rivals. Royal Caribbean (RCL 0.56%) is introducing its latest vessel -- Quantum of the Seas -- this week. Online chatter claims that Disney (DIS -0.66%) is about to expand its growing fleet by 50% when it announces two new ships later this month. (A Disney spokeswoman claims that new ships won't be announced at next week's media event, but there's clearly excitement about the cruise industry outside of Carnival.)
Cruising isn't diminishing in popularity. In this video, Rick argues that Carnival stock itself may be the one that's diminishing.
