PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Reaches New 52-Week High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $86.90 and last traded at $81.51, with a volume of 77334 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.09.

The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.92% and a net margin of 2.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.5%. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PSMT shares. TheStreet raised PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PriceSmart

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSMT. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in PriceSmart in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in PriceSmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in PriceSmart by 80.3% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 759 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in PriceSmart by 30,300.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in PriceSmart by 331.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Trading Down 3.1 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82 and a beta of 0.92.

PriceSmart Company Profile

PriceSmart, Inc owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. The company provides basic and private label consumer products under the Member's Selection brand, including groceries, cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, meat, produce, deli, seafood, and poultry.