PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Hits New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Key Points

• PriceSmart's shares reached a new 52-week high of $113.92 during trading, closing at $113.12, showing significant trading activity with 38,680 shares exchanged.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded PriceSmart from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, indicating confidence in the stock's future performance.
• PriceSmart reported a net margin of 2.82% and a quarterly EPS of $1.14, slightly missing analyst estimates, but showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.1%.

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $113.92 and last traded at $113.12, with a volume of 38680 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $111.45.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $107.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68 and a beta of 0.77.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 12.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.31, for a total value of $58,470.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,908 shares in the company, valued at $8,282,399.48. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,706 shares of the company's stock valued at $147,236,000 after acquiring an additional 100,785 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in PriceSmart by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,305,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,345,000 after purchasing an additional 5,947 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in PriceSmart by 2.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,045,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,872,000 after purchasing an additional 24,512 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in PriceSmart by 25.8% in the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 782,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,730,000 after purchasing an additional 160,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 740,720 shares of the company's stock worth $77,812,000 after purchasing an additional 13,119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.46% of the company's stock.

About PriceSmart

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.