Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Short Interest Up 79.3% in May

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average trading volume of 22,789,931 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CPNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Coupang from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Nomura cut their price objective on Coupang from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Coupang in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Coupang from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coupang has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.65.

Coupang Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CPNG traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $16.87. 8,589,654 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,378,824. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -187.62 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Coupang has a 1-year low of $14.92 and a 1-year high of $34.08.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Coupang will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Coupang

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of Coupang by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 49,233,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,161,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285,600 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Coupang by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 41,131,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,340,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,942 shares during the last quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Coupang by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC now owns 34,595,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,161,000 after purchasing an additional 8,328,148 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Coupang by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,547,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $697,029,000 after purchasing an additional 951,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Coupang by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 24,833,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $799,629,000 after purchasing an additional 89,207 shares during the last quarter. 83.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.