MercadoLibre Q1 Profit Surges, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Shares of MercadoLibre Inc. (MELI) gained almost 8 percent in extended trades Thursday after the Argentinean e-commerce technology company's results for the first quarter beat analysts' expectations. The company's profit for the first quarter surged 73 percent from last year on higher revenues.

MercadoLibre hosts online commerce platforms in Latin America. Through its primary platforms, MercadoLibre.com and MercadoPago.com, provides solutions to individuals and companies buying, selling, advertising, and paying for goods and services online.

Marcos Galperin, CEO of MercadoLibre, said, "Solid first quarter results showed progress in key initiatives such as payments, mobile and customer experience, encouraging us to keep innovating, executing and seizing the huge potential of our region's e-commerce."

Net income attributable to MercadoLibre shareholders for the first quarter was $30.26 million or $0.69 per share, up from $17.48 million or $0.40 per share in the same period last year.

Excluding a devaluation loss in Venezuela and its income tax effect, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $27.7 million or $0.63 per share, compared to $23.4 million or $0.53 per share in the year-ago period. On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.57 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenues for the quarter increased 12 percent to $115.38 million from $102.73 million in the same period last year. Analysts expected revenues of $109.37 million.

Gross profit margin improved to 72.7 percent from 72.1 percent in the year-ago period, as scale in the company's customer support operations and lower withdrawal costs in MercadoPago Argentina offset higher payment processing fees due to strong TPV growth.

Total payment volume increased 25 percent from the year-ago period to $664.0 million and total payment transactions through MercadoPago increased 36 percent to 9.2 million.

Gross merchandise volume grew 15 percent to $1.80 billion. Items sold on MercadoLibre during the first quarter increased 20 percent to 21.7 million.

MELI closed Thursday's regular trading session at $83.26, down $0.86 or 1.02 percent on a volume of 704,118 shares. However, in after-hours, the stock gained $6.64 or 7.98 percent to $89.57.