BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ MercadoLibre SA (MELI) on Wednesday reported a loss of $34 million in its first quarter.

On a per-share basis, the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based company said it had a loss of 68 cents. Earnings, adjusted to extinguish debt, came to 31 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 27 cents per share.

The operator of an online marketplace and payments system in Latin America posted revenue of $1.38 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.19 billion.

MercadoLibre shares have fallen almost 9% since the beginning of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months.

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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