Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILA) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ:LILA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $7.73, but opened at $7.30. Liberty Latin America shares last traded at $8.4850, with a volume of 242,718 shares traded.

The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.23). Liberty Latin America had a negative return on equity of 48.22% and a negative net margin of 13.76%.The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on LILA shares. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Liberty Latin America from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liberty Latin America in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.75.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Latin America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Latin America by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,445,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,074,000 after purchasing an additional 78,234 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in Liberty Latin America by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,943,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,359,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Latin America by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 1,411,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,704,000 after purchasing an additional 484,016 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in Liberty Latin America by 3.5% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,166,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,674,000 after buying an additional 39,044 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Latin America by 318.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 940,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,948,000 after acquiring an additional 715,641 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.48% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Latin America Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -2.62 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.78.

About Liberty Latin America

Liberty Latin America is a telecommunications company that provides video, broadband internet, telephony and mobile services across Latin America and the Caribbean. The company’s operations span consumer and business markets, offering cable television packages, high-speed broadband connections, fixed-line voice services and wireless data plans. Through its brands, including Flow in several Caribbean territories and VTR in Chile, Liberty Latin America focuses on delivering converged digital solutions designed to meet both residential and enterprise needs.

Formed in 2018 as a spin-off from Liberty Global, Liberty Latin America built its initial footprint by integrating legacy assets acquired from Cable & Wireless Communications and Columbus Communications.