Coupang Inc. (CPNG): South Korea’s E-Commerce Giant Is Quietly Hitting Its Stride
Coupang (NASDAQ: CPNG) isn’t new—but the setup right now feels different than anything we’ve seen since its IPO in 2021. After years of being overlooked and left behind in the post-bubble drawdown, this dominant South Korean e-commerce and logistics company is finally showing the kind of scale, margin expansion, and earnings growth that make it hard to ignore.
Often described as “the Amazon of South Korea,” Coupang has built a vertically integrated platform that covers everything from same-day grocery delivery to streaming, payments, and advertising. It’s a dense-market model with over 70% of the population living within 60 miles of a fulfillment center, which gives Coupang a structural edge on speed, cost, and customer retention. The result? Over 99% of orders are eligible for same- or next-day delivery.
And now the financials are catching up to the vision.
In Q1, Coupang reported:
- 29.3% gross margin, up 480 basis points over two years
- 1.9% operating margin, up 190 basis points
- EPS growth of 290% expected in 2025, with another 127% expected in 2026 (data via Quartr)
To put that into perspective: it’s currently outgrowing Amazon, Alibaba, and MercadoLibre on earnings, while closing the margin gap at a faster rate than either BABA or MELI.
Barclays seems to agree. In May, they reiterated an Overweight rating and raised their price target to $36, citing margin acceleration and operating leverage in Coupang’s largest segment, Product Commerce. The company’s scale and investment in automation and machine learning are starting to pay off—not just in revenue growth (~20% forecasted constant-currency for 2025), but in gross profit growth that’s outpacing revenue.
Major institutional shareholders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Tiger Global, Durable Capital, Baillie Gifford, and others who have a reputation for spotting multi-year compounders early.
Technically, the stock is showing signs of breaking out of a year-long consolidation. Shares are currently in a 40% drawdown from their IPO high, but the underlying business is stronger and more profitable than ever. The 50-day moving average recently crossed above the 200-day, and the $25 level has acted as a strong support area through multiple retests.
Bottom line: Coupang is no longer a speculative story. It’s a scaled, profitable business in one of the world’s most tech-savvy markets, and it’s executing the Amazon playbook with precision. If the current margin trajectory holds, this may be the early stages of a multi-year move higher.
