MercadoLibre (MELI) ended the recent trading session at $1,872.12, demonstrating a +1.71% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.8%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.6%.
Coming into today, shares of the operator of an online marketplace and payments system in Latin America had gained 6.51% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 7.22%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.15%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of MercadoLibre in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $9.73, reflecting a 0.1% decrease from the same quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $8.41 billion, showing a 41.76% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $51.5 per share and a revenue of $38.81 billion, indicating changes of +30.71% and +34.32%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MercadoLibre. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 6.28% lower within the past month. Currently, MercadoLibre is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, MercadoLibre is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 35.74. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 16.58 of its industry.
Investors should also note that MELI has a PEG ratio of 0.96 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Internet - Commerce stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.93 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 174, this industry ranks in the bottom 29% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).