How to buy PriceSmart stock | 79.99

PriceSmart, Inc is a discount stores business based in the US. PriceSmart shares (PSMT) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. PriceSmart employs 9,500 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.3 billion.

How to buy shares in PriceSmart

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for PriceSmart. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: PSMT. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until PriceSmart reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$79.99, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of PriceSmart, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of PriceSmart. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted PriceSmart's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, PriceSmart's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$79.99, which is 25.17% up on its pre-crash value of USD$59.86 and 94.39% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$41.15.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of PriceSmart shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$835.09 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,305.44.

PriceSmart share price

Use our graph to track the performance of PSMT stocks over time.

PriceSmart shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-27.

Latest market close	USD$79.99
52-week range	USD$40.9359 - USD$83.37
50-day moving average	USD$73.7069
200-day moving average	USD$65.3419
Wall St. target price	USD$80
PE ratio	32.0588
Dividend yield	USD$0.7 (0.86%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$2.55

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Is it a good time to buy PriceSmart stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of PriceSmart, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

PriceSmart price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $79.99 from 2020-11-16

1 week (2020-11-20)	N/A
1 month (2020-10-30)	15.93%
3 months (2020-08-28)	N/A
6 months (2020-05-28)	N/A

1 year (2019-11-27)	N/A
2 years (2018-11-27)	N/A
3 years (2017-11-27)	N/A
5 years (2015-11-27)	N/A

Is PriceSmart under- or over-valued?

Valuing PriceSmart stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of PriceSmart's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

PriceSmart's P/E ratio

PriceSmart's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 32x. In other words, PriceSmart shares trade at around 32x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

PriceSmart's PEG ratio

PriceSmart's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.94. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into PriceSmart's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

PriceSmart's EBITDA

PriceSmart's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$183.9 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a PriceSmart's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

PriceSmart financials

Revenue TTM	USD$3.3 billion
Operating margin TTM	3.69%
Gross profit TTM	USD$554.4 million
Return on assets TTM	5.19%
Return on equity TTM	9.59%
Profit margin	2.35%
Book value	$27.49
Market capitalisation	USD$2.5 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting PriceSmart shares

There are currently 591,566 PriceSmart shares held short by investors – that's known as PriceSmart's "short interest". This figure is 6.6% up from 554,792 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting PriceSmart shares can be evaluated.

PriceSmart's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

PriceSmart's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of PriceSmart shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of PriceSmart shares traded daily (recently around 121222.54098361). PriceSmart's SIR currently stands at 4.88. In other words for every 100,000 PriceSmart shares traded daily on the market, roughly 4880 shares are currently held short.

However PriceSmart's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of PriceSmart shares, or, against the total number of tradable PriceSmart shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case PriceSmart's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 PriceSmart shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0523% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable PriceSmart shares, roughly 52 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against PriceSmart.

Find out more about how you can short PriceSmart stock.

PriceSmart share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 27.45% of net profits

Recently PriceSmart has paid out, on average, around 27.45% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.86% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), PriceSmart shareholders could enjoy a 0.86% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In PriceSmart's case, that would currently equate to about $0.7 per share.

While PriceSmart's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that PriceSmart may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

PriceSmart's most recent dividend payout was on 31 August 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 13 August 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

PriceSmart share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, PriceSmart's shares have ranged in value from as little as $40.9359 up to $83.37. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while PriceSmart's is 0.8517. This would suggest that PriceSmart's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

PriceSmart overview

PriceSmart, Inc. owns and operates U.S. style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. Its warehouse clubs sell brand name and private label consumer products and provide services, such as optical and tires to individuals and businesses. As of August 31, 2020, the company operated 46 warehouse clubs. PriceSmart, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of PriceSmart is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 20.064% of PriceSmart shares are held by insiders and 82.679% by institutions.

• How many people work for PriceSmart?

  Latest data suggests 9,500 work at PriceSmart.

• When does the fiscal year end for PriceSmart?

  PriceSmart's fiscal year ends in August.

• Where is PriceSmart based?

  PriceSmart's address is: 9740 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA, United States, 92121

• What is PriceSmart's ISIN number?

  PriceSmart's international securities identification number is: US7415111092

• What is PriceSmart's CUSIP number?

  PriceSmart's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 741511109