MercadoLibre Earnings Miss as Costs Surge in Q4

Investing.com – MercadoLibre on Monday reported mixed fourth-quarter results after earnings missed estimates as a surge in costs offset revenue growth that topped consensus estimates.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:) announced earnings per share of $-1.11 on revenue of $674.3M (NYSE:). Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $-0.74 on revenue of $662.67M. That with comparison to EPS of $-0.05 on revenue of $428.02M in the same period a year before. MercadoLibre had reported EPS of $-2.96 on revenue of $603.03M in the previous quarter. Analysts are expecting EPS of $-0.35 and revenue of $643.46M in the upcoming quarter.

The miss on the bottom line was partly driven by a fall in a margin to 45.7% from 47.8% in the fourth quarter total operating costs surged 83% for the quarter year-on-year.

Enhanced marketplace revenues increased 55.3% year-over-year, while non-marketplace revenues increased 60.0% year-over-year in dollar terms and 89.7%.

Total payment volume, a measure of the total dollar value of transactions processed, through Mercado Pago reached $8.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 63.5% in dollar terms. Total payment transactions increased 127.2% year-over-year, totaling 285.5 million transactions for the quarter.

Gross merchandise volume increased to $3.9 billion, representing a 19.7% increase in dollar terms.

“We are proud to announce the fourth quarter 2019 with a sustained momentum that gives us the confidence to move on to a phase of continuing to prioritize growth, but with a greater focus on driving cost efficiencies and scale benefits through the P&Ls of our larger more consolidated businesses. This will be one of our objectives for the upcoming year,” said Pedro Arnt, Chief Financial Officer of MercadoLibre.

“We believe we are investing appropriately behind growth, building superior experiences and products for our consumers and merchants, and continuing committed to our long term goal of disrupting both commerce and finance in Latin America. We are also proud to invite you to check our sustainability report, also available for the first time along with the annual report,” Arnt added.

MercadoLibre shares are up 15.01% from the beginning of the year , still down 9.30% from its 52 week high of $725.19 set on February 5. They are outperforming the Nasdaq which is up 6.52% year to date.

MercadoLibre follows other major Technology sector earnings this month

MercadoLibre’s report follows an earnings beat by Microsoft on January 29, who reported EPS of $1.51 on revenue of $36.91B, compared to forecasts EPS of $1.05 on revenue of $32,512M.

Apple had beat expectations on January 28 with first quarter EPS of $4.99 on revenue of $91.82B, compared to forecast for EPS of $4.54 on revenue of $88.51B.

Stay up-to-date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing.com’s earnings calendar

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.