MercadoLibre (MELI +0.79%) is often referred to as the "Amazon.com of Latin America," due to its e-commerce dominance in key markets like Brazil and Argentina. But there's much more to this business. In addition to its e-commerce marketplace, MercadoLibre also has the massive Mercado Pago payments platform, the Mercado Envios logistics platform, a fast-growing lending business, and more.
The company has evolved and has grown rapidly over the years, and investors have been handsomely rewarded. You might be surprised at how well MercadoLibre's stock has performed, but it's well-deserved.
How much would a $10,000 investment have grown?
I won't keep you in suspense. If you invested $10,000 in MercadoLibre in May 2014, it would be worth about $204,000 today. That's right -- MercadoLibre has grown investors' money by more than 20 times over the past decade, a 35% annualized return.
NASDAQ: MELI
Key Data Points
This sounds like incredible stock performance (and it is), but when you consider just how great a job MercadoLibre's management has done with the business' growth strategy, you'll understand why it has delivered such stellar returns. Here are a few key points:
- In the first quarter of 2014, MercadoLibre's platform generated $1.8 billion in gross merchandise volume on 21.7 million items sold. In the first quarter of 2024, these figures were $11.4 billion and 385.1 million items, respectively.
- The payments platform saw $664 million in volume in the first quarter of 2014. In the most recent quarter, Mercado Pago's total payment volume was $40.7 billion -- about 61 times the level of a decade ago.
- Ten years ago, Mercado Envios was just getting started and Mercado Credito didn't exist.
- Overall, MercadoLibre's revenue was $4.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, representing growth of 3,626%, compared with the $115.4 million it generated 10 years ago.
It could be argued that it's surprising MercadoLibre was only a 20-bagger over the past decade. With a massive opportunity in e-commerce, payments, logistics, credit, and more still ahead of the company, watching the next chapters of its growth story unfold will be exciting.
