MercadoLibre, Inc.’s MELI credit business continued to expand in the second quarter of 2026, reinforcing the connection between its fintech platform and broader ecosystem. The company’s credit portfolio reached $16.4 billion, marking 75% year-over-year growth. Assets under management also increased 68% year over year to $23.2 billion, reflecting deeper engagement with Mercado Pago.
The expansion of credit has become an important element of MercadoLibre’s ecosystem strategy by encouraging users to engage across both Marketplace and Mercado Pago. Management highlighted that ecosystemic users, defined as customers using both platforms, grew 37% year over year in the second quarter of 2026. Users with a Mercado Pago credit card were also two to three times more likely to remain ecosystemic compared with users without the card.
Credit card growth has been a key contributor to this engagement. MercadoLibre noted that credit card issuance accelerated, with 2.6 million new cards issued in the second quarter of 2026 compared with 1.6 million in the year-ago period. The company stated that credit cards help increase user engagement and strengthen relationships within the platform.
Alongside portfolio growth, MercadoLibre maintained focus on credit quality. The company reported that 15-90-day non-performing loans stood at 7% for the total portfolio and 4.6% for credit cards, both near historical lows.
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 0.9% over the past three months compared with the industry’s 4% rise. While Amazon shares have climbed 3.3%, Sea Limited has jumped 3.2% 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 33.10, higher than the industry average of 20.23. However, the stock is trading below its 12-month median level of 34.35.
MercadoLibre is trading at a premium to Amazon (forward 12-month P/E of 22.07) and Sea Limited (19.74).
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What Do Earnings Estimates Signal for MercadoLibre?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MercadoLibre’s current fiscal-year sales implies 44.6% year-over-year growth, while the consensus estimate for earnings per share suggests a 0.7% decline. For the next fiscal year, the consensus estimate indicates a 28.9% rise in sales and 43.3% growth in earnings.
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MELI currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
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).