Roche stalking Alexion (ALXN) Pharmaceuticals? Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI) shares rise on Q2 results

Shares of Argentine e-commerce firm Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI) rose more than 25 percent in mid day session after the company said profit rose 71 percent in the second quarter, beating analyst estimates.

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Mercadolibre's second-quarter net income was $25.38 million or $0.57 per share, up from $14.82 million or $0.34 per share in the previous-year quarter. Analysts expected the company to earn $0.49 per share for the quarter.

However, the company's gross profit margin fell to 73.1 percent from 75.6 percent during the year-ago period, driven primarily by the growth in the lower margin payment business.

MercadoLibre is part-owned by eBay Inc. and hosts online commerce and payments platforms in Latin America.

Marcos Galperin, President and Chief Executive Officer of MercadoLibre said, "Wrapping up the first half of 2012, I am very pleased with our solid performance, achieved despite currency and macro headwinds, confirming the strong secular tailwinds behind e-commerce growth, as well as our solid execution on top of a flexible business model that captures this growth through multiple channels."

Meanwhile FT Alphaville has a juicy rumour to share- market talks of a potential bid by Swiss drug make Roche Holding Ltd. (ADR)(PINK:RHHBY) for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ:ALXN). The information is, of course, unverified.

It said that the gossip in the market pointed to an offer of around $128 a share for Alexion, valuing the company at $24 billion.

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Alexion shares jumped4.53% to $106.93.Its shares have risen 45 percent so far this year.

Alexion has been the subject of takeover talks on and off. Incidentally its only commercially approved drug Solaris, used in the treatment of a rare disorder of the immune system, is the world's most expensive drug, FT Alphaville said.

Roche is also keen to grow via acquisitions its earlier hostile takeover bid for Illumina this year failing.