B2W Rallies Most in Three Months on Sales Gain: Sao Paulo Mover

B2W Cia. Global do Varejo, Brazil’s biggest online retailer, gained the most in three months as sales increased 33 percent in the fourth quarter and beat analysts’ estimates.

Shares rose 5.5 percent to 15.63 reais at 1:41 p.m in Sao Paulo after earlier soaring as much as 8.5 percent in the biggest intraday gain since Dec. 12. Lojas Americanas SA (LAME4), which controls B2W, added 1.9 percent to 18.24 reais, extending its three-day advance to 4.2 percent. The benchmark Bovespa index fell 0.6 percent.

B2W’s sales increased to 1.6 billion reais ($821 million) in the three months through December from 1.2 billion reais a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg after the company released results yesterday. That compares with an average estimate of 1.4 billion reais among 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Sales acceleration is the crucial driver to dilute the company’s heavy expense structure, ultimately driving margin expansion and cash-flow generation in the long term,” Tobias Stingelin, Ronaldo Kasinsky and Bruno Soares Taveira, analysts at Banco Santander Brasil SA, wrote today in a note to clients.

B2W declined 13 percent this year through yesterday while Lojas Americanas retreated 2.4 percent and the benchmark Bovespa index slid 3.5 percent during the same period.

To contact the reporter on this story: Denyse Godoy in Sao Paulo at dgodoy2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net