MercadoLibre, Inc.’s MELI fintech segment, Mercado Pago, is rapidly solidifying its position as Latin America’s leading financial services platform. The company’s second-quarter 2026 performance demonstrates how its integrated digital finance ecosystem is capturing market share, expanding daily user engagement and driving massive payment volumes across key regional markets.
During the quarter, Mercado Pago’s Monthly Active Users surged 30% year over year to 88 million, with Brazil and Mexico growing 38% and 45%, respectively. The company also cited market-leading NPS in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, suggesting that growth is being accompanied by strong user satisfaction.
The platform is increasingly deepening its role in users’ financial lives, as reflected in Assets Under Management, which jumped 68% year over year to $23.2 billion, while AUM per user climbed 29% to $264. Consumer and credit-card exposure per user also increased, showing stronger engagement with Mercado Pago beyond everyday payments.
Mercado Pago’s credit portfolio expanded 75% year over year to $16.4 billion. Within the portfolio, credit-card balances surged 91.3% to about $7.7 billion and accounted for 47% of total credit exposure, up from 43% a year earlier. MercadoLibre issued 2.6 million new cards during the quarter compared with 1.6 million a year ago.
This rapid credit expansion occurred alongside stable asset quality, with the 15-90-day NPL ratio remaining near historic lows at 7%. Payment processing also maintained powerful momentum, as Total Payment Volume (“TPV”) jumped 56% year over year to $101 billion, while acquiring TPV reached $64.1 billion.
The strategic synergy between marketplace activity and financial solutions has made cardholders two to three times more likely to remain ecosystemic users. Driven by accelerating card issuance, remunerated accounts and expanding merchant networks, Mercado Pago is strengthening its position as one of Latin America’s leading fintech platforms.
How Does MercadoLibre Stack Up Against Its Industry?
MercadoLibre, which competes with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Sea Limited SE, has seen its shares gain 22.7% over the past three months compared with the industry’s 5.9% rise. While Amazon shares have climbed 5.4%, Sea Limited has rallied 32.6% in the aforementioned period.
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What Does MercadoLibre’s Current Valuation Suggest?
From a valuation standpoint, MercadoLibre’s forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 39.01, higher than the industry average of 21.34. The stock is also trading above its 12-month median level of 34.46.
MercadoLibre is trading at a premium to Amazon (forward 12-month P/E of 22.76) and Sea Limited (22.82).
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What Do Earnings Estimates Signal for MercadoLibre?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MercadoLibre’s current financial-year sales implies year-over-year growth of 44.6%, while the consensus estimate for earnings per share suggests a decline of 0.7%. For the next fiscal year, the consensus estimate indicates a 28.9% rise in sales and 43.3% growth in earnings.
Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share has declined by $1.89 to $39.11 for the current fiscal year and by $3.13 to $56.05 for the next fiscal year.
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MELI currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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