MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $1,505.99, but opened at $1,620.00. MercadoLibre shares last traded at $1,661.46, with a volume of 545,625 shares.

The company reported $6.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. MercadoLibre had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 42.04%. MercadoLibre’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MELI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on MercadoLibre from $2,000.00 to $1,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut MercadoLibre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 target price on shares of MercadoLibre in a research report on Friday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MercadoLibre from $1,900.00 to $1,800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of MercadoLibre from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,685.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,805.00.

Institutional Trading of MercadoLibre

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MELI. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 1.1% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,017,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 4.3% during the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MercadoLibre by 108.2% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,413,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of MercadoLibre by 9.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,861,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in MercadoLibre by 12.3% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MercadoLibre Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,499.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,537.76. The firm has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a PE ratio of 72.96, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.45.

About MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre, Inc operates online commerce platforms in the United States. It operates Mercado Libre Marketplace, an automated online commerce platform that enables businesses, merchants, and individuals to list merchandise and conduct sales and purchases digitally; and Mercado Pago FinTech platform, a financial technology solution platform, which facilitates transactions on and off its marketplaces by providing a mechanism that allows its users to send and receive payments online, as well as allows users to transfer money through their websites or on the apps.