In the latest close session, MercadoLibre (MELI) was down 3.27% at $1,968.28. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 2.05%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.54%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.27%.
The operator of an online marketplace and payments system in Latin America's stock has dropped by 6.65% in the past month, falling short of the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.28% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.49%.
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 $11.66, reflecting a 7.53% decrease from the same quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.49 billion, up 40.2% from the year-ago period.
MELI's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $39.8 per share and revenue of $28.63 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.6% and +37.79%, respectively.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MercadoLibre. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.19% decrease. MercadoLibre is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Looking at its valuation, MercadoLibre is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 34.21. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 14.85.
Investors should also note that MELI has a PEG ratio of 1.01 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Internet - Commerce industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.94 as of yesterday's close.
The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, finds itself in the bottom 34% echelons of all 250+ industries.
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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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