Why MercadoLibre's GMV Growth Remains an Investor Favorite

MercadoLibre, Inc. MELI achieved total Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”) of $21.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026. This performance represents a 44% year-over-year expansion in U.S. dollar terms and 36% growth on an FX-neutral basis. Consolidated items sold rose 45% year over year to reach 795.4 million units.

A principal driver behind this sustained volume strength is the deepening level of buyer engagement across core regional markets. Unique active buyers on the marketplace expanded 26% year over year to reach 89.3 million. Items sold per unique active buyer increased 14%, driven by a 19% gain in Brazil. This elevated activity stems from structural initiatives such as the lowered free-shipping threshold introduced in Brazil, which produced a step-change in conversion rates and improved long-term user retention. Brazil’s conversion rate increased 1.1 percentage points year over year. 

Regional performance contributed significantly to overall volume expansion. On an FX-neutral basis, Brazil recorded 39% year-over-year GMV growth, while Mexico registered 26% growth. In Argentina, FX-neutral GMV expanded 38% despite broader macroeconomic consumption challenges. Cross-border trade GMV posted 60% FX-neutral growth, supported by expanded fulfillment capabilities in China.

The broader ecosystem structure also reinforces marketplace activity through synergistic usage. Ecosystemic users who utilize both the marketplace platform and Mercado Pago financial services generated 70% more GMV per user than marketplace-only users.

MercadoLibre is widening selection through domestic sellers and cross-border inventory while improving the shopping proposition. This helps explain why GMV growth remains a closely watched measure for investors even when consumer conditions differ across markets.

What the Latest Metrics Say About MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre, which competes with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Sea Limited SE, has seen its shares gain 12.7% over the past three months compared with the industry’s 1.1% rise. While Amazon shares have declined 1.3%, Sea Limited has rallied 35.4% in the aforementioned period.

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From a valuation standpoint, MercadoLibre's forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 35.94, higher than the industry average of 22.21. The stock is also trading above its 12-month median level of 34.47.

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MercadoLibre is trading at a premium to Amazon (forward 12-month P/E of 22.74) and Sea Limited (23.39).
 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MercadoLibre’s current financial-year sales implies year-over-year growth of 44.6%, while the consensus estimate for earnings suggests a decline of 0.7%. 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).

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