Latin American e-commerce and fintech company MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 49.8% year on year to $10.17 billion. Its GAAP profit of $9.19 per share was 2.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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MercadoLibre (MELI) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $10.17 billion vs analyst estimates of $9.73 billion (49.8% year-on-year growth, 4.5% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $9.19 vs analyst estimates of $8.94 (2.8% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $975 million vs analyst estimates of $917.3 million (9.6% margin, 6.3% beat)
- Operating Margin: 6.7%, down from 12.2% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 31.7%, up from 20.4% in the previous quarter
- Unique Active Buyers: 89 million, up 18 million year on year
- Market Capitalization: $95.74 billion
Company Overview
Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America.
Revenue Growth
Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Thankfully, MercadoLibre’s 41.3% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was incredible. Its growth surpassed the average consumer internet company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.
This quarter, MercadoLibre reported magnificent year-on-year revenue growth of 49.8%, and its $10.17 billion of revenue beat Wall Street’s estimates by 4.5%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 31.4% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last three years. Still, this projection is eye-popping given its scale and indicates the market is forecasting success for its products and services.
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Unique Active Buyers
User Growth
As an online marketplace, MercadoLibre generates revenue growth by increasing both the number of users on its platform and the average order size in dollars.
Over the last two years, MercadoLibre’s unique active buyers, a key performance metric for the company, increased by 5.2% annually to 89 million in the latest quarter. This growth rate lags behind the hottest consumer internet applications and is largely a function of its already massive scale and saturated market. If MercadoLibre wants to reaccelerate growth, it likely needs to innovate with new products. 
In Q2, MercadoLibre added 18 million unique active buyers, leading to 25.4% year-on-year growth. The quarterly print was higher than its two-year result, suggesting its new initiatives are accelerating user growth.
Revenue Per User
Average revenue per user (ARPU) is a critical metric to track because it measures how much the company earns in transaction fees from each user. ARPU also gives us unique insights into a user’s average order size and MercadoLibre’s take rate, or “cut”, on each order.
MercadoLibre’s ARPU growth has been exceptional over the last two years, averaging 63.1%. Its ability to increase monetization while growing its unique active buyers demonstrates its platform’s value, as its users are spending significantly more than last year. 
This quarter, MercadoLibre’s ARPU clocked in at $114.26. It grew by 19.5% year on year, slower than its user growth.
Key Takeaways from MercadoLibre’s Q2 Results
We enjoyed seeing MercadoLibre beat analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. We were also glad it expanded its number of users. Zooming out, we think this was a good print with some key areas of upside. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 4.7% to $1,833 immediately following the results.
So do we think MercadoLibre is an attractive buy at the current price? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).