Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 70,985,186 shares, an increase of 79.3% from the May 14th total of 39,582,338 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 22,789,931 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CPNG. Weiss Ratings downgraded Coupang from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $25.00 price objective on Coupang in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Citigroup downgraded Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.20 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Coupang from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coupang currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.65.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,547,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,029,000 after buying an additional 951,812 shares during the last quarter. Long Walk Management LP lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 16.4% in the third quarter. Long Walk Management LP now owns 2,935,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,507,000 after buying an additional 413,375 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 112.5% in the third quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 218,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 115,426 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 383.2% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 126,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 100,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 114.6% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,205,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,012,000 after buying an additional 1,177,875 shares during the last quarter. 83.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coupang Trading Up 5.1%

NYSE CPNG traded up $0.87 on Tuesday, reaching $18.00. The company had a trading volume of 23,231,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,501,912. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.98 and its 200-day moving average is $20.04. The stock has a market cap of $32.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -200.01 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Coupang has a 52 week low of $14.92 and a 52 week high of $34.08.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.06). Coupang had a negative net margin of 0.47% and a negative return on equity of 3.67%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Coupang will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Coupang Company Profile

Coupang, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CPNG, is a South Korean e-commerce company headquartered in Seoul. Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim, the company grew rapidly by combining an online marketplace with a large direct-retail business model. Coupang completed a primary listing in the United States in 2021, and it has become one of South Korea’s leading online retailers by focusing on convenience, speed and a wide product assortment across consumer categories.

The company operates a vertically integrated e-commerce platform that includes a customer-facing marketplace and an extensive logistics and fulfillment network.