Skip to Content
Morningstar
Get 14 Days Free

MercadoLibre Inc MELI

Morningstar Rating
Rating as of

Morningstar’s Analysis

Valuation
Currency in USD
Is it the right time to buy or sell?
Find out with Morningstar Premium
Is it the right time to buy or sell?
Find out with Morningstar Premium

1-Star Price

PREMIUM

5-Star Price

PREMIUM

Economic Moat

PREMIUM

Capital Allocation

PREMIUM

Wide-Moat MercadoLibre’s High Growth Phase Continued in First Quarter; Shares Fully Valued

David Swartz Equity Analyst

Analyst Note

| David Swartz |

MercadoLibre achieved strong growth for both its e-commerce and financial services in 2021’s first quarter, keeping it on track to meet or exceed our volume, user, and revenue estimates for the year. Its revenue growth of 111% beat consensus’ 76% forecast and likely will lead us to raise our prior full-year estimate of 51%. Thus, we expect to increase our per share fair value estimate of $1,370 on the firm by a mid-single-digit percentage, although we view its shares as fully valued.

Read Full Analysis

Company Profile

Business Description

Founded in 1999, MercadoLibre's commerce segment (representing 64% of net revenue in 2020) includes online marketplaces in more than a dozen Latin American countries, display and paid search advertising capabilities (MercadoClics), online store management services (MercadoShops), and third-party logistics solutions (MercadoEnvios). Its fintech segment includes an online/offline payment-processing platform (MercadoPago), mobile wallet platform, credit solutions for buyers/sellers, and asset management offerings (Mercado Fondo). The company derives more than 95% of its revenue from Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico.

Contact
Pasaje Posta 4789, 6th Floor
Buenos Aires, C1430EKG
T +54 1146408000
Sector Consumer Cyclical
Industry Internet Retail
Most Recent Earnings Mar 31, 2021
Fiscal Year End Dec 31, 2021
Stock Type Cyclical
Employees 15,546

Related

Fund Spy
Another Quarter of Gains for the U.S. Equity Market
Value drives U.S. equity market gains in the first quarter.
Claire Butz
Fund Spy
Wild Ride for International Equities in 2020
Investors looked past the pandemic’s near-term impact.
Adam Sabban
Our Picks
The 10 Best Wide-Moat Stocks of 2020
Do any of 2020’s top performers have gas left in the tank for 2021?
Susan Dziubinski
Fund Spy
International Equity Funds Bounced in Second Quarter
The comeback was uneven, however.
Adam Sabban
US Videos
Artisan Partners' Take on Emerging Markets
Lewis Kaufman, manager of Artisan Developing World, talks about his approach to emerging-markets investing.
Nick Watson
Fund Spy
International-Stock Funds Bounce Back in 2019
International equity markets rebounded off 2018’s lows to deliver robust returns.
Tom Nations
Premium Article
10 Wide Moat Stocks of the Year
Do any of 2019’s top performers have gas left in the tank for 2020?
Susan Dziubinski
Stock Strategist
Farfetch Well Placed as Online Luxury Takes Off
However, we lack confidence in the sustainability of its economic profits.
Jelena Sokolova
Premium Article
These Wide-Moat Stocks Have an Added Advantage
These 27 companies have network effect as a moat source--and that's been a plus.
Susan Dziubinski
Premium Article
3 High-Quality Businesses at Fair Prices
Put these wide-moat stocks with positive moat trends on your watchlist.
Susan Dziubinski
Stock Strategist Industry Reports
How Blockchain Affects Our Coverage
We believe companies with moats from switching costs and intangible assets are less vulnerable.
Jim Sinegal
Stock Strategist
Why MercadoLibre's Moat Has Widened
We think the company’s network effect has strengthened.
R.J. Hottovy
Quarter-End Insights
Consumer Cyclical: Market Underestimating Apparel and E-Commerce
Structural trends across apparel retail, e-commerce, and travel are being mispriced by the market.
R.J. Hottovy
Fund Times
Stock Picks from Morningstar Analysts
A trio of Morningstar analysts share their outlooks for and opportunities in the healthcare, consumer, and basic materials sectors.
Susan Dziubinski
Stock Strategist
Consumer Cyclical: China Growth Concerns Present Buying Opportunities
The market is now pricing in long-term cash flow assumptions that are more conservative than those baked into our longer-term consumer cyclical valuation assumptions.
Dan Wasiolek
Stock Strategist
Powerful Network Effect Makes Alibaba a Rare Find
We assign the e-commerce firm a wide moat rating ahead of its IPO.
R.J. Hottovy
Stock Strategist Industry Reports
MercadoLibre Is Well Positioned for Latin America's E-Commerce Boom
But its valuation understates competitive and cyclical pressures.
Dan Su

Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.

We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.

We sell different types of products and services to both investment professionals and individual investors. These products and services are usually sold through license agreements or subscriptions. Our investment management business generates asset-based fees, which are calculated as a percentage of assets under management. We also sell both admissions and sponsorship packages for our investment conferences and advertising on our websites and newsletters.

How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us. We may use it to:

  • Verify your identity, personalize the content you receive, or create and administer your account.
  • Provide specific products and services to you, such as portfolio management or data aggregation.
  • Develop and improve features of our offerings.
  • Gear advertisements and other marketing efforts towards your interests.

To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center.

Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.