Stocks continued on their downward trajectory to begin the holiday-shortened week on Tuesday, with signs of war in Eastern Europe and nervousness about its geopolitical and macroeconomic impact. Declines were felt across the market, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.33%) closed more than 10% below its all-time high to mark the beginning of an official broad market correction. Declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.95%) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.59%) were in line with the S&P's drop.
|
Index |
Daily Percentage Change (Decline) |
Daily Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
(1.42%) |
(483) |
|
S&P 500 |
(1.01%) |
(44) |
|
Nasdaq |
(1.23%) |
(167) |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Yet after the closing bell, a couple of stocks got much-needed bounces after having lost considerable ground in recent months. Both MercadoLibre (MELI +0.41%) and Cadence Design Systems (CDNS 0.85%) reported their latest financial results, and investors liked what they saw enough to send their share prices up in after-hours trading. Below, we'll look more closely at both stocks to see why they performed so well even under challenging conditions.
Image source: Getty Images.
MercadoLibre keeps its business growing
Shares of MercadoLibre jumped more than 10% after hours, making up for their 5% drop in the regular session earlier on Tuesday. The Latin American e-commerce giant reported fourth-quarter financial results that took a few steps toward restoring confidence in the hard-hit stock, which had fallen by more than half from its highs from last year.
MercadoLibre's latest numbers were as strong as ever. Revenue jumped 74% to $2.1 billion on a currency-neutral basis, with gross merchandise volume climbing to $8 billion. More than 82 million users took advantage of the MercadoLibre ecosystem, with almost 300 million live listings offered on its e-commerce marketplace.
In addition, MercadoLibre's other businesses did well. The Mercado Pago payment network saw 73% currency-neutral growth in payment volume to $24.2 billion, with almost 1.03 billion payment transactions taking place on the service. Meanwhile, the Mercado Envios shipping service shipped almost 276 million items during the quarter, up 29% year over year.
MercadoLibre lost money in the quarter, giving back some of its profits from earlier in the year. Nevertheless, investors were pleased to see the e-commerce company keep growing key business metrics, and MercadoLibre expects good times ahead in 2022 as well.
NASDAQ: MELI
Key Data Points
Cadence looks to pick up the pace
Meanwhile, shares of Cadence Design Systems rose nearly 9% in after-hours trading Tuesday. The electronic systems design specialist had fourth-quarter financial results that reassured shareholders even as some of its key business metrics saw slowing growth.
On their face, Cadence's fourth-quarter results weren't entirely glowing. Revenue inched upward less than 2% year over year to $773 million, with net income making a similar-size small gain as well. But adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share were better than most investors had forecast, despite being lower than last year's $0.83 per share figure.
What really wowed investors, though, was the outlook that Cadence gave. The company expects 2022 full-year revenue of between $3.32 billion and $3.38 billion, which would represent growth of 11% to 13%. Moreover, earnings guidance for between $3.70 and $3.80 per share would be a decent-size boost compared to the $3.29 final total for 2021.
Cadence came into the day having lost 30% from its highs in late December, but investors seem a lot more confident in the company now. With plenty of demand for design software, shareholders hope to see a steadier Cadence in 2022 and beyond.
