Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.42 EPS

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The basic materials company reported ($0.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.42), Zacks reports. Mercer International had a negative net margin of 5.60% and a negative return on equity of 23.88%.

Mercer International Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Mercer International stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $1.88. The stock had a trading volume of 923,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,115. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $2.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.33. Mercer International has a 12-month low of $1.84 and a 12-month high of $8.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The firm has a market cap of $125.93 million, a P/E ratio of -1.15 and a beta of 0.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MERC has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Mercer International in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. CIBC dropped their price objective on shares of Mercer International from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Mercer International from $3.50 to $3.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $4.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercer International

In other news, Director Linda J. Welty purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $3.09 per share, with a total value of $30,900.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 36,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,136.10. This represents a 38.04% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mercer International

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MERC. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercer International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,804,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Mercer International by 340.6% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 276,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $969,000 after buying an additional 214,008 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Mercer International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.79% of the company’s stock.

About Mercer International

Mercer International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Pulp and Solid Wood. It manufactures, sells, and distributes pulp, electricity, and chemicals through pulp mills.