5 Internet Retail Stocks To Buy Now

4. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81  

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) operates online commerce platforms in Latin America. On November 3, MercadoLibre posted earnings for the third quarter of 2022, reporting earnings per share of $2.56, beating market estimates by $0.24. The revenue over the period was $2.69 billion, up 44.6% compared to the revenue over the same period last year and missing market estimates by $10 million.

On November 3, Citi analyst Joao Pedro Soares maintained a Buy rating on MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) stock and lowered the price target to $1,050 from $1,150, noting that the firm is said to be the best vehicle to be positioned in secular e-commerce growth in Latin America.

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Chicago-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) with 710,900 shares worth more than $588.5 million. 

In its Q3 2022 investor letter, SaltLight Capital Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Despite the economic slowdown in developed markets, our Latin American investment in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) had another outstanding third quarter growing revenues by 61% on a USD FX-neutral basis (GMV +32% FXN). Despite this strong growth, it also managed to expand operating profit margins to 11% (compare this to Amazon which is struggling to make a profit in its retail business).

LatAm’s e-commerce penetration is still very low compared to Asia and developed markets. MELI is mostly a marketplace but has also adopted models from elsewhere. In the recent past, it has built 3rd party seller infrastructure that has made Amazon so successful, and it is also heavily investing in a mobile-based fintech infrastructure very similar to ANT Group in China. After only launching a couple of quarters ago, their advertising business is already at 1.3% of Gross Merchandise Value.”