Andres Cardenal
CFA, Economist & Financial Analyst, Investment Columnist
MercadoLibre's commerce and fintech revenue growth underpins the view that its shares are undervalued at current prices. The attached chart shows quarterly commerce services revenue reaching $4.3 billion and fintech revenue $4.4 billion in June 2026, up from $769 million and $467 million in March 2021. x.comÂ
MercadoLibre has fundamental advantages in data access and distribution that position it to win in AI. Its fintech arm Mercado Pago just launched Mago, an AI personal assistant to help users organize personal or business finances. The company has already been reporting strong AI-driven productivity gains. x.comÂ
MercadoLibre's growth under Lula makes today's selloff look absurd. On a TTM basis since Q1 2023, revenue is up 206% and EPS 200%; having done so well during his term, it should be fine going forward. x.com x.comÂ
Nu and MercadoLibre's biggest secular-growth advantage is resilience to electoral and macro shocks. Nu hit 139 million customers and $1 billion quarterly net income through Brazil's recession, impeachment and pandemic. MercadoLibre survived the dot-com crash and devaluations; Mercado Pago has nearly 78 million monthly users and credit growth above 90% year on year. With regional e-commerce growing 15%-20% annually, their value through 2027 depends on adoption and delinquencies, not one election. … Show more
MercadoLibre's collapsing margins and earnings make its 45-times-earnings valuation look like a value trap. It faces intense competition, and less of its revenue reaches the bottom line; falling earnings make the stock more expensive even as its price falls. Nu Holdings trades at 17 times earnings and Inter & Co at 7 times, with both growing revenue and earnings robustly. Selling MercadoLibre to build positions in companies with better fundamentals is under consideration. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre's marketplace repayment data means much sharper fintech risk pricing, much more revenue per user, a much better loyalty program and even lower churn. Its fintech already has rapidly growing engagement and resilient cross-cycle underwriting; relatively high GDP per capita alongside heavy cash use leaves room to displace cash. Both its marketplace and fintech are growing rapidly. x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre seems cheap at roughly 3x enterprise value to sales given revenue is up about 700% while its stock price is back at 2020 levels. It is hard to see how the multiple can keep compressing. x.comÂ
Political uncertainty and Amazon competition have held MercadoLibre's stock back despite a humming business. The company is great and the stock deserves to turn, but at roughly 45 times earnings and only about 12% gained over five years, it has remained a difficult stock to own. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre has reaccelerated as it scaled, a rare combination of scale and growth. Quarterly revenue has climbed from $474M in 2019 to over $10B, a 21x increase, yet it is still growing around 49%. x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre's Brazilian marketplace lead continues to consolidate while delivery costs per order are falling. Its GMV share is 40.5%, against Shopee's 19.8% and Amazon's 11.7%; Amazon is slightly losing share. The numbers also back the company's comments on lower delivery costs. x.com x.com x.comÂ
South American political unpredictability keeps investors from rewarding MercadoLibre's excellent fundamentals. Today's selloff illustrates that risk, despite the strength of the business. x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre is the backbone of Latin American digital commerce, and its ecosystem keeps feeding its own growth. E-commerce, Mercado Pago payments, credit, logistics and advertising reinforce each other, as more users bring more transactions, more data and better monetization. Execution is elite, with about 39% revenue growth, about 52% free cash flow growth and expanding margins. The valuation is not cheap, but great businesses rarely are, and this is what long-term compounding looks like. … Show more
