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MercadoLibre (MELI) Rises Higher Than Market: Key Facts

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MercadoLibre (MELI - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $1,665.50, moving +1.82% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.15%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 1.38%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.38%.

Coming into today, shares of the operator of an online marketplace and payments system in Latin America had lost 18.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 6.15%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.69%.

The upcoming earnings release of MercadoLibre will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $10.67, reflecting a 9.55% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.41 billion, up 41.7% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $54.95 per share and a revenue of $38.26 billion, demonstrating changes of +39.47% and +32.43%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for MercadoLibre. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 8.52% lower within the past month. MercadoLibre is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, MercadoLibre is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 29.77. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 15.13.

We can additionally observe that MELI currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.8. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Internet - Commerce industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.82 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, positioning it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

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