- Investment firm Daiwa downgraded MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) to Hold, setting a new price target of $1800.00.
- The e-commerce and fintech giant reported robust net revenue growth of 49% year-over-year, reaching $8.85 billion, surpassing Wall Street consensus.
- Despite strong top-line growth, profitability weakened, with operating income dropping 20% and net income falling 16%, leading to a missed earnings per share (EPS) of $8.23.
MercadoLibre is a major e-commerce and financial technology company operating across Latin America. Its business includes a large online marketplace for buying and selling goods and a digital payment platform named Mercado Pago. The company is a key player in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.
On May 8, 2026, investment firm Daiwa changed its rating for MercadoLibre to Hold from a previous Buy rating. The firm established a new price target of $1800.00 for the stock. When announced, MercadoLibre was trading at $1630.16, which is a potential upside of about 10.42% to the new target.
This rating change comes after MercadoLibre reported strong revenue growth. Net revenue and financial income increased by a significant 49% year-over-year to $8.85 billion. This result was higher than the Wall Street consensus of $8.30 billion and represents the company’s fastest growth in almost four years.
However, MercadoLibre’s profitability has weakened, leading to margin concerns as highlighted by GuruFocus. Operating income, the profit made from core business activities, dropped by 20% to $611 million. This caused the operating margin to shrink to 6.90%, indicating that a smaller percentage of revenue is being converted into profit.
As highlighted by PYMNTS, MercadoLibre stated it chose to prioritize long-term growth investments over short-term profitability. This strategy resulted in net income falling 16% to $417 million. As a result, the earnings per share (EPS) of $8.23 missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.78, as reported by Zacks.
