Mercadolibre Results Crush Estimates; Stock Up 14%

(RTTNews) - Mercadolibre Inc (MELI), the Latin American e-commerce technology company, Thursday reported second-quarter net loss of $25.6 million or $0.58 per share, hurt by one-time charges. This compares with net earnings of $30 million or $0.67 per share last year.

Results for the 2014 quarter included asset impairment charges of about $50 million and foreign currency losses of $15 million.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.72 per share, compared with $0.68 per share a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% at $131.8 million, compared with $112 million in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of $0.56 per share on revenue of $110 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

CEO Marcos Galperin said: "We made solid progress on all fronts this quarter, growing our business on the basis of substantial upgrades that we are bringing our users, perfecting the experience that we offer them across all screens."

During the quarter, gross merchandise volume rose 4.6% from last year to $1.8 billion, and items sold on MercadoLibre Marketplace increased 17.6% to 23.6 million.

MercadoLibre, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, hosts online commerce platforms in Latin America. On Thursday, its stock closed at $92.44, down $0.47 or 0.51%, on a volume of 503k shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock gained $13.06 or 14.13% at $105.50.