It's been a roller coaster of a year so far for the stock market. After starting off strong and then plunging with the announcement of new tariffs, it's swinging back up nearly 7% year to date.
In the short term, investing in the stock market could be volatile. If you'd invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of the year, it would have gone as low as about $860 in April, but today it would be worth about $1,075. In the long term, investing in the stock market could lead to fabulous wealth.
Having a diversified portfolio is an essential part of building wealth over time, and filling it with excellent stocks could help you beat the market. Although you shouldn't rely on just one stock, even a single stock in your portfolio that outperforms could set you up for life. MercadoLibre (MELI 0.80%) is one stock that has that potential.
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Leading in technology
MercadoLibre's core business is e-commerce. It runs a platform similar to Amazon, serving 18 Latin American countries, and it's growing at a rapid pace. Revenue increased 64% (currency neutral) year over year in the 2025 first quarter, with gross merchandise volume (GMV) up 40%. It performed particularly well in Argentina, one of its main markets, which has been experiencing high economic volatility. Total items sold increased 28% year over year, but 52% in Argentina, where GMV was up 126%.
MercadoLibre has been making improvements to its platform and logistics network to become an even more attractive option for shoppers, especially in grocery. It made user experience upgrades in navigation, ad placements, and a repeat purchase feature, and grocery sales increased 65% over last year in the quarter.
It's important to note that while MercadoLibre is actually almost as old as Amazon, the region it serves is way behind the U.S. in e-commerce penetration. Management says it lags by a decade, with only 14% penetration, in contrast with about 29% in the U.S. That's how it's still able to report such incredible growth. As it reaches more people and offers greater value, it's drawing greater interest and bringing more customers online. It has a long way to go to even reach other global penetration levels, which are still low and growing as a percentage of total retail sales.
Beyond e-commerce, MercadoLibre has developed a robust fintech segment that grew out of its underbanked population's need to pay for products. These days, the company offers a competitive suite of services that include digital payments, credit cards, investing tools, and more, and it's also growing quickly. In the first quarter, total payment volume increased 72% from last year, and monthly active users were up 30%. The credit portfolio was up 75%, and assets under management more than doubled.
The opportunity here is huge, too. Only 28% of the population in its region has a credit card, versus 67% in the U.S., and 74% have bank accounts, versus 95% in the U.S.
How MercadoLibre stock can set you up for life
We've established that MercadoLibre is growing at a fast rate and has a massive opportunity. How will that translate into stock gains?
As a fun and constructive exercise, consider that toward the end of 2009, Amazon had a revenue similar to MercadoLibre's current trailing 12-month revenue. It's grown 2,900% since then, and its stock has increased nearly 4,700%. If MercadoLibre can follow a similar trajectory, its stock could create similar shareholder wealth.
Incidentally, as shown in the chart below, MercadoLibre has grown and gained much more over the same period to reach its current levels.
If you had invested $10,000 in Amazon stock in 2009, you'd have nearly $500,000 today, 16 years later. If you invest a similar amount in MercadoLibre today and hold it for the next two or even three decades, there's a chance you could have a lot more.
