BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ MercadoLibre SA (MELI) on Tuesday reported a first-quarter loss of $21.1 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based company said it had a loss of 44 cents.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 43 cents per share.

The operator of an online marketplace and payments system in Latin America posted revenue of $652.1 million in the period, which beat Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $643.8 million.

MercadoLibre shares have climbed almost 9% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $621.38, a climb of 9.5% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MELI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MELI

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News