Short Interest in Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Grows By 79.3%

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

Coupang Stock Performance

NYSE:CPNG traded up $0.05 on Monday, hitting $16.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,589,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,378,824. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $18.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -187.62 and a beta of 1.13. Coupang has a one year low of $14.92 and a one year high of $34.08.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.15) 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Coupang will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Coupang in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group set a $25.00 price objective on Coupang in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Coupang from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Nomura decreased their price objective on Coupang from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Coupang from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Five 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coupang presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.65.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coupang

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

About Coupang

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.