Latin American e-commerce and fintech company MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) reported Q4 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 44.6% year on year to $8.76 billion. Its GAAP profit of $11.03 per share was 3.6% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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MercadoLibre (MELI) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $8.76 billion vs analyst estimates of $8.49 billion (44.6% year-on-year growth, 3.2% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $11.03 vs analyst expectations of $11.44 (3.6% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $1.13 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.10 billion (12.9% margin, 2.1% beat)
- Operating Margin: 10.1%, down from 13.5% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 33.9%, down from 35.1% in the previous quarter
- Unique Active Buyers: 83 million, up 16 million year on year
- Market Capitalization: $94.52 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 put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Thankfully, MercadoLibre’s 40% 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 44.6%, and its $8.76 billion of revenue beat Wall Street’s estimates by 3.2%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 29% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last three years. Still, this projection is eye-popping given its scale and suggests the market is baking in 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.
MercadoLibre struggled with new customer acquisition over the last two years as its unique active buyers have declined by 15% annually to 83 million in the latest quarter. This performance isn't ideal because internet usage is secular, meaning there are typically unaddressed market opportunities. If MercadoLibre wants to accelerate growth, it likely needs to enhance the appeal of its current offerings or innovate with new products. 
Luckily, MercadoLibre added 16 million unique active buyers in Q4, leading to 23.9% 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 107%. Although its unique active buyers shrank during this time, the company’s ability to successfully increase monetization demonstrates its platform’s value for existing users. 
This quarter, MercadoLibre’s ARPU clocked in at $105.53. It grew by 16.7% year on year, slower than its user growth.
Key Takeaways from MercadoLibre’s Q4 Results
We enjoyed seeing MercadoLibre increase its number of users this quarter. We were also happy its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 1.1% to $1,942 immediately following the results.
Indeed, MercadoLibre had a rock-solid quarterly earnings result, but is this stock a good investment here? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
