What happened
The stock market was generally higher on Friday, but MercadoLibre (MELI +2.08%) was a big outperformer. As of 10:30 a.m. EDT, the e-commerce and fintech company was higher by 4% after rising by as much as 10% earlier in the day.
So what
As you might expect given that we're in the peak of third-quarter earnings season, MercadoLibre's third-quarter results are behind the move.
MercadoLibre's latest figures were impressive throughout the entire business. On the e-commerce side, gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew by 30% year over year to $7.3 billion. Nearly 260 million items were sold on the platform, and mobile sales now represent 74% of the total volume.
Image source: Getty Images.
On the fintech side of the business, Mercado Pago, the results were even more impressive. Total payment volume increased by 59% year over year to $20.9 billion from nearly 866 million transactions. Off-platform transaction volume now represents roughly two-thirds of the total and continues to grow at an even faster rate than payment volume from MercadoLibre's marketplace.
MercadoLibre's newer business segments are growing impressively as well. Most notably, the company's Mercado Credito lending platform now has $1.1 billion in outstanding loans, nearly quadrupling its size from a year ago.
Now what
Impressively, these growth numbers are in addition to the massive spike MercadoLibre saw in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic caused e-commerce and cashless payment volumes to soar. If the company can keep capitalizing on its enormous opportunities in both e-commerce and payment processing, there could be much more upside ahead.
