MercadoLibre, the Latin American giant in e-commerce and fintech led by Argentine entrepreneur Marcos Galperin, reported its most successful annual results to date.
The company outdid analyst forecasts by posting a net profit of $383 million in the last quarter, topping expectations by over 130% from the previous year.
The annual net profit reached $1.2 billion, a leap of 155.8% from 2022, against the predicted $1.145 billion.
Q4 EPS $3.25 missed the $3.71 forecast, impacting MercadoLibre’s Nasdaq ADR, down 7.6% in after-hours trading.
Yet, the firm’s annual revenue hit $14.5 billion, up by 37.4%, and quarterly revenue increased by over 40% to $4.3 billion.
Brazil and Mexico were key growth drivers, with revenue jumps of 45.6% and 51.4%, respectively.
CFO Martín de los Santos attributed this success to strategic long-term investments in technology, enhancing user experience and value.
Market cap exceeds $90B, making it Latin America’s 2nd largest firm and one of the world’s top 200.
Q4 incurred $30M Brazil sales tax, $320M Argentina import tax, $62M peso devaluation, impacting revenue.
Excluding costs, Q4 2023 revenue was $572M, up 77.6%, annual revenue $2.1B, up 122.1% from 2022.
Q4 e-commerce up 48.1%, driven by direct sales, fintech sector also exhibits strong growth.
The credit portfolio expanded to $3.8 billion, with payment volume and transaction numbers seeing significant rises.
In short, the financial products user base crossed 50 million for the first time, marking a milestone year for MercadoLibre.