5. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79
Annual Sales Growth Over the Past 5 Years: 59.37%
MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is a leading e-commerce technology company in Latin America, headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded in 1999, MercadoLibre operates primarily through its flagship platforms, MercadoLibre.com and MercadoPago.com, offering a wide range of solutions for individuals and businesses involved in online buying, selling, advertising, and payment transactions.
In May 2024, MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) reported impressive first-quarter earnings, with revenue reaching $4.3 billion and earnings per share (EPS) at $6.78, surpassing analyst expectations of $3.84 billion in revenue and $6.10 in EPS.
According to 14 Wall Street analysts, the average 12-month price target for MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is $1,921.82, with a high forecast of $2,150.00 and a low forecast of $1,450.00. This represents a potential 22.14% increase from the last trading price of $1,573.40.
For the March 2024 quarter, 79 of the 919 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had investments in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI). Among these, Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners held a substantial stake valued at $1.2 billion.
Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Equity Strategy stated the following regarding MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Another prime example of how alternative payment systems can boost a company’s core offering is MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI), Latin America’s largest online retailer, which we added to the portfolio during the quarter. Since we last wrote about the company four years ago, its management has done a great deal to further differentiate its offerings from those of rivals in a highly competitive industry, leading to market-share gains across the region. In the same way that the company built its own fulfillment infrastructure to improve the customer experience in areas where third-party delivery services were lacking, it has built its own payments and credit infrastructure to otter better shopping experiences to its customers and reduce barriers that have otherwise discouraged e-commerce adoption.
MercadoLibre started its payments business, Mercado Pago, in 2003, only four years after launching its namesake e-commerce platform. It has since become the leading private payment provider in the region, accounting for 13% of all retail sales in Latin America, both online and offline, more than any single card issuer or private form of payment other than cash. Nearly three quarters of its payments now take place outside of MercadoLibre’s online site. Mercado Pago comprises more than half of the company’s total earnings and cash flow, which has helped to fund investments elsewhere—especially in logistics—that have served to reinforce its lead in e-commerce…” (Click here to read the full text)
