What happened 

Shares of MercadoLibre (MELI 3.09%) gained 11% in August, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It posted another excellent quarter with continued high growth.

So what

MercadoLibre is a Latin American e-commerce and fintech giant that seems unstoppable. After several consecutive quarters of triple-digit revenue growth early in the pandemic, it has kept up high double-digit growth in the aftermath.

Revenue increased 57% year over year in the second quarter to $3.4 billion. Gross merchandise volume increased 47% over last year to $10.5 billion, an acceleration from previous quarters. Operating income more than doubled to $588 million, with a margin of 16.3%, and net income more than doubled from $123 million to $262 million.

While the core e-commerce business clearly has momentum, the fintech business, which is its newer business, is still skyrocketing. It includes both a digital-payments business, borne out of its realization that many of its customers are underbanked and need alternative payments methods, as well as a credit business.

Both have been huge growth drivers. Off-platform total payments volume, which are payments not on the MercadoLibre platform, increased 129% over last year in the quarter.

Another new area that's been growing quickly is advertising. Like Amazon, which operates a similar business, it has added advertising as a revenue stream, and ad sales increased 70% over last year in the second quarter.

MercadoLibre had invested as it scaled, which affected its profitability over the past few years. It's been mostly profitable, but that's been inconsistent. Operating margin has been climbing since going negative during the pandemic, and MercadoLibre is now in an excellent place, both from the standpoint of growing its business and also achieving sustainable profitability.

Now what

MercadoLibre has been a market-beating stock over the past five years, gaining almost 6x the S&P 500's gain at the same time. It has continued potential in all of its businesses, from its older, core activities to its newer, higher-growth ventures. Its stock is up 68% this year.

However, at the current price, shares trade at a forward one-year price-to-earnings ratio of 54, which is incredibly rich. That's why, despite the earnings report, the stock didn't move too much higher.

It won't move up too much at this valuation. Investors can still buy at this price with the long term in mind, but short-term gains could be slim.