MercadoLibre's Q3 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y

Core Insights - MercadoLibre (MELI) reported Q3 2024 earnings of $7.83 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 30.52% but increasing 9.4% year over year [1] - Revenues rose 35% year over year to$ 5.3 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.11% [1] - The growth in total revenues was driven by commerce and fintech, which grew 48% and 21% year over year, respectively [1] Revenue Breakdown - Brazil generated net revenues of $2.91 billion, accounting for 54.8% of total revenues, with a year-over-year increase of 41.2% [3] - Argentina's market produced revenues of$ 1.03 billion, representing 19.4% of total revenues, growing 13.5% year over year [3] - Mexico's net revenues reached $1.14 billion, making up 21.6% of total revenues, soaring 44% year over year [3] - Other countries contributed$ 221 million, reflecting a 39% year-over-year increase [4] Key Metrics - Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) was $12.9 billion, up 71.2% year over year on an FX-neutral basis, beating the consensus mark by 0.91% [5] - The number of successful items sold increased by 27.7% year over year to 456 million, while successful items shipped rose 29.4% to 453 million [5] - Total Payments Volume (TPV) surged 72.7% year over year on an FX-neutral basis to$ 50.6 billion, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.96% [6] - Total payment transactions increased by 47.5% year over year to 2.93 billion, with fintech monthly active users totaling 56 million, up 33.3% year over year [6] Operating Details - Gross margin for Q3 was 45.9%, down from 53.6% in the previous year [7] - Operating expenses rose 43.7% year over year to $1.88 billion, representing 35.4% of revenues, an increase of 60 basis points year over year [7] - Operating margin decreased to 10.5% from 20.9% in the year-ago period [7] Balance Sheet - As of September 30, 2024, cash and cash equivalents were$ 2.16 billion, down from $2.82 billion as of June 30, 2024 [8] - Short-term investments stood at$ 1.1 billion, with net debt at $1.9 billion at the end of the quarter [8]