There are few stocks on the market today with opportunities that can rival those of MercadoLibre(NASDAQ: MELI). It has an excellent business and plenty of growth drivers, and it's even priced to perfection. Here are five reasons to buy it today.
1. E-commerce is still underpenetrated in Latin America
MercadoLibre's core business is e-commerce. It's highly profitable, providing the capital for the company to venture into faster-growing businesses. That said, the e-commerce business itself is still growing at a healthy pace. In the second quarter, gross merchandise volume increased 20% year over year, or 82% on a currency-neutral basis, and items sold increased 29%. That's a typical quarter.
Management is still investing in its e-commerce segment, adding new features and programs to onboard suppliers and attract new members, improve logistics and delivery times, and offer more products to generate higher sales and engagement.
But it's the organic growth as e-commerce grows in this region that's creating the most opportunities. E-commerce penetration is still lower in Latin America than in many other regions, and as it keeps rising, MercadoLibre is well-positioned to grab market share and keep growth rates high.
2. Fintech is just getting started
Fintech is a similar story, but it presents even greater opportunities. MercadoLibre has developed a robust fintech segment that was born out of the need for its highly cash-reliant customer base to pay for goods without access to credit cards. That has expanded into a full-service digital financial app that offers credit products, investment accounts, digital payments, and more.
The segment is growing even faster than e-commerce with total payment volume up 36% year over year, or 86% currency neutral, in the second quarter. The credit portfolio has become an incredible way for MercadoLibre to maximize its profits, and net interest margin was 31.1% last quarter.
Digital financial services continue to take hold of Latin American markets, and while penetration is high in some of the larger countries, it's still low in many of the smaller ones.
3. It's highly profitable
MercadoLibre's profitability had been on and off as it carefully invested in growing its business, but it's been reliably profitable for several quarters with growing net income.
While it has felt some pressure in Argentina due to very high inflation in the region, that's been offset by strong performance in other countries. Net income more than doubled in the second quarter to $531 million, and its net profit margin expanded from 7.3% to 10.5%.
4. It's getting into banking
Although MercadoLibre has a growing fintech business, it's been missing a bank charter, which would give it greater flexibility in what financial services it can offer. It applied for a bank charter in Mexico in May, and it's positioning itself to become the largest all-digital bank in the country.
It's starting in Mexico where the user base has quintupled over the past two years. But this is a test run, and it could have major implications for the future of the business, opening up incredible new opportunities to disrupt traditional banking in many of the countries in which it operates.
5. The price is right
MercadoLibre stock has long traded at a four-digit share price, but its valuation is reasonable in the context of its performance and opportunities. It trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 42, and its price-to-sales ratio of 6 is well below the five-year average of 10.
MercadoLibre has incredible growth opportunities, and if you buy today, you can still look forward to years or even decades of gains.
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Jennifer Saibil has positions in MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
