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MercadoLibre, Inc.: Q2 FY2026 earnings call

What management said about Q2 FY2026, from the documents filed with the SEC on 5 August 2026: press release. The quarter’s numbers.

Key takeaways

  • Revenue grew 50% year on year: Net revenues and financial income were $10,169 million, up 50% YoY and 43% FX-neutral. Management described this as the fastest pace in four years. Source
  • Operating income fell 17%: Income from operations was $683 million, down 17% YoY. Year on year, the operating margin compressed by 550bps. Source
  • Ecosystemic users grew 37%: Users active on both the marketplace and Mercado Pago grew 37% YoY and have been the fastest-growing segment since Q4'23. Their share of the user base rose 8ppts over that period. Source
  • Brazil GMV growth after free shipping change: One year after lowering the Brazil free shipping threshold, FX-neutral GMV grew 39% YoY. Management said items sold grew 56% over the same period. Source
  • Credit card NIMAL turned negative: Credit card NIMAL moved from breakeven a year earlier to -2.5%. Management attributed the change to new cohorts rather than to asset quality. Source
  • Margin broadly flat sequentially: Operating margin was 6.7%, versus 6.9% in Q1'26. Operating expenses were 2.6ppts lower as a share of revenue, offset by 2.8ppts of gross margin compression. Source
  • Adjusted free cash flow of $214mn: Adjusted free cash flow was $214 million after $441 million of capex and $2.1 billion of credit portfolio investment, partly offset by $560 million of fintech funding. Source

“Engagement is the thread that ties them together, and the clearest signal that, collectively, they are working.”

MercadoLibre, Inc., press release

What changed from last quarter

  • New: PIX discounts for buyers and take-rate discounts for sellers were introduced in April, in certain categories and price ranges, conditional on competitive pricing. Source
  • New: Instore acquiring launched in Uruguay this quarter, extending the acquiring footprint to a new market. Source
  • New: HBO Max was integrated into video advertising inventory, which the company said increases its addressable video audience by around 50%. Source

Headline results and growth

  • Revenue grew 50% year on year: Net revenues and financial income were $10,169 million, up 50% YoY and 43% FX-neutral. Management described this as the fastest pace in four years. Source
  • Operating income fell 17%: Income from operations was $683 million, down 17% YoY. Year on year, the operating margin compressed by 550bps. Source
  • Net income down 11% YoY: Net income was $466 million, a 4.6% margin. Lower FX losses of $45 million, against $117 million a year earlier, partly offset the lower operating income. Source
  • Payment volume up 56%: Total payment volume rose 56% YoY. GMV rose 44% YoY as reported, and 36% on an FX-neutral basis. Source

Engagement and ecosystem users

  • Ecosystemic users grew 37%: Users active on both the marketplace and Mercado Pago grew 37% YoY and have been the fastest-growing segment since Q4'23. Their share of the user base rose 8ppts over that period. Source
  • Items per buyer up 14%: Items per buyer rose 14% YoY, with Brazil at 19%. The daily-to-monthly active user ratio reached its highest level ever, and the share buying three or more categories hit an all-time high. Source
  • MELI+ subscribers up 72%: MELI+ subscriber growth has accelerated since late last year. Management said engagement among MELI+ users meaningfully outpaces that of ecosystemic users. Source
  • Ecosystem users more profitable: Management said contribution profit per ecosystemic user is a multiple of the combined profit of a marketplace-only user and a fintech-only user, and described profitability as multiplying rather than adding. Source
  • Credit card holders stay ecosystemic: Management said holders of the Mercado Pago credit card are two to three times more likely to remain ecosystemic than non-holders. Source

“Profitability doesn't simply add when a user becomes ecosystemic - it multiplies.”

MercadoLibre, Inc., press release

Commerce, pricing and cross-border

  • Brazil GMV growth after free shipping change: One year after lowering the Brazil free shipping threshold, FX-neutral GMV grew 39% YoY. Management said items sold grew 56% over the same period. Source
  • PIX discounts and seller take-rate cuts: In April the company introduced PIX discounts for buyers and take-rate discounts for sellers in some categories and price ranges. Active sellers grew 29% YoY. Source
  • Mexico GMV up 26%: Mexico FX-neutral GMV grew 26% YoY and sold items 34%. Management cited pharmacy, now gaining traction after years of building safety and regulatory capabilities, as a new category. Source
  • Argentina growth slowed: Argentina FX-neutral GMV growth slowed to 38% YoY and sold items growth to 22%. Management said the company continues to gain share from physical retail. Source
  • Cross-border GMV up 60%: Cross-border trade FX-neutral GMV grew 60% YoY. Argentina, Brazil and other countries each grew at a triple-digit pace, and China fulfillment center volume grew 170% QoQ. Source
  • Advertising revenue up 62%: Advertising net revenue grew 62% YoY FX-neutral. Management said the company surpassed 10% share of the region's digital advertising market, with growth broadening beyond Self-Service. Source

Fintech services and credit

  • Brazil and Mexico MAUs accelerated: Fintech MAUs in Brazil grew 38% and in Mexico 45% YoY, both faster than the 2025 rate. AUM reached $23bn, up 68% YoY. Source
  • Credit portfolio passed $16bn: The portfolio grew 75% YoY. Management said growth is managed within strict risk parameters, supported by underwriting models that continue to improve. Source
  • NIMAL down 2ppts YoY: NIMAL compressed 2ppts YoY, mainly from mix shift toward the lower-spread credit card, and rose 3ppts QoQ on a recovery in the Brazil consumer portfolio spread. Source
  • Credit card NIMAL turned negative: Credit card NIMAL moved from breakeven a year earlier to -2.5%. Management attributed the change to new cohorts rather than to asset quality. Source
  • Delinquency near historic lows: The 15-90 day NPL was 7.0% for the whole portfolio and 4.6% for the credit card. Management attributed the level to a mix shift toward lower-risk users. Source

“For Mercado Libre and Latin America, the best is coming.”

MercadoLibre, Inc., press release

Acquiring and point-of-sale

  • Brazil acquiring growth accelerated: Brazil Acquiring TPV grew 32% YoY, driven by a handful of large Online Payments merchants. Management said these merchants carry lower take rates but add absolute TPV. Group Acquiring TPV grew 42%. Source
  • Mexico Instore and device reach: Mexico Acquiring TPV grew 47% YoY and Instore grew almost 70%. Management said device reach in Mexico now equals that of all incumbent banks combined. Source
  • Upfront user spend pressures margin: Management said near-term acquiring margin pressure partly reflects higher upfront spending on acquiring new users, which it said has healthy payback periods. Source

Margins, costs and provisions

  • Margin broadly flat sequentially: Operating margin was 6.7%, versus 6.9% in Q1'26. Operating expenses were 2.6ppts lower as a share of revenue, offset by 2.8ppts of gross margin compression. Source
  • Gross margin compression drivers: Management listed three drivers: Brazil marketplace pricing initiatives that reduce revenue, shipping costs not fully offset by revenue, and user acquisition spending in Acquiring. Source
  • Provision charges weighed on margin: Provisions for doubtful accounts rose as a share of revenue, as the credit portfolio grew 75% against 50% revenue growth. Management said credit revenue net of provisions was slightly higher as a share of revenue than a year earlier. Source
  • Country margins moved differently: Brazil direct contribution margin improved QoQ on a recovery in credit profitability. Mexico fell about 4ppts QoQ and Argentina almost 2ppts, both on POS device costs and slower Acquiring growth. Source

Cash flow, debt and liquidity

  • Adjusted free cash flow of $214mn: Adjusted free cash flow was $214 million after $441 million of capex and $2.1 billion of credit portfolio investment, partly offset by $560 million of fintech funding. Source
  • Net debt rose to $6.4bn: Net debt was $6,425 million at June 30, 2026, against $4,682 million at December 31, 2025, per the company's non-GAAP reconciliation. Source
  • Available cash increase narrowed: The net increase in available cash, investments and digital assets was $41 million for the six months, against $546 million a year earlier. Source

AI and productivity

  • Code submissions up 110%: Management said deployments rose nearly 75% and rollbacks fell YoY. Agents reviewed more than half a million code submissions over the past year. Source
  • Seller Assistant resolves more requests: Sellers representing almost half of GMV use the Seller Assistant. Management said more than half of Help Portal requests were resolved by the assistant without a human. Source
  • AI cost per token falls: Management said cost per token fell QoQ and YoY, from model-mix changes and better commercial terms with AI suppliers. AI investment grew about $80mn YoY. Source
  • Product development spend share fell: Product Development expenses fell from 8.4% of net revenue in Q2'25 to 7.2% in Q2'26. Management attributed this to productivity gains that allow growth without adding engineers at the same pace. Source
  • AI search rolled out across five sites: Management said the AI-powered marketplace search architecture is now live across its five largest sites, and that conversion and click-through uplifts more than offset third-party LLM costs. Source

Strategy and long-term investment

  • Ecosystem described as one system: Management said free shipping, pricing and supply investments, 1P, CBT, the credit card, the yielding account and MELI+ work together, each deepening engagement with the others. Source
  • Investment pace to continue: Management said it will keep investing in the ecosystem at the scale and pace it describes as required, with the discipline it has applied for almost three decades. Source
  • Sequential view preferred this quarter: Management said the sequential comparison is more informative this quarter, because year-on-year margin reflects the ramp-up of investments described in earlier shareholder letters. Source
  • Short-term discount cost, long-run engagement: Management said Brazil discounts weigh on short-term profitability, and that a similar pattern followed earlier seller shipping charge cuts in 2024 and 2025. Source
  • Credit card kept as engagement lever: Management said the credit card is one of its most powerful levers for engagement and principality, and that the portfolio is managed within strict risk parameters. Source

Coming up, as management said on 5 August 2026

  • Credit card NIMAL expected to strengthen: Management expects credit card NIMAL to strengthen as the newer issuance cohorts mature, in line with the pattern it has seen before. Source
  • Continued push to lead the transformation: Management said it intends to keep leading the Latin American digital economy transformation, which it expects to play out over decades rather than years. Source

Figures management reported

FigureReported
Fintech monthly active users Source88mn
Unique active buyers Source89mn
Gross merchandise volume Source$21.9bn
Number of items sold Source795mn
Total payment volume Source$101bn
Acquiring total payment volume Source64,079mn
Total payment transactions Source5,181mn
NIMAL Source20.7%
Active devices in Mexico Source1.4mn

Risks management discussed

  • External: Higher POS device costs linked to memory chip price increases add pressure on Acquiring margins. Management described this cost as largely industry-wide and beyond its control. Source
  • Demand: Soft consumption dynamics are cited as the reason Instore acquiring growth slowed in Argentina. Source
  • Regulatory: Mexico's tax reform remains a headwind to demand. Management said it is focused on levers including expanding supply into new categories such as pharmacy. Source
  • Financial: Credit card NIMAL is negative while new card cohorts dilute the average. Management attributed this to the pace of issuance and said the cohorts are naturally dilutive. Source
  • Financial: Management noted that provisions scale with the size of the credit book, which is growing faster than consolidated revenue. Source
  • Operational: Shipping costs rose and were not fully offset by higher revenue, which the company cited as one driver of gross margin compression. Source
  • Demand: Weaker demand in Mexico led to commercial initiatives that compressed margin, and lower dilution of fixed costs. Source

Earlier plans management reported on

  • Not stated: Management said the unit economics of lowering the free shipping threshold are evolving as it expected, with free and slow shipments variable contribution-positive across half of ASP ranges. Source
  • Not stated: Management said Brazil consumer provisions normalized after the increase it flagged the prior quarter, and that this drove a recovery in the Brazil consumer portfolio spread. Source

Other quarters

Summarised with AI from the documents the company filed with the SEC. Every point is checked against the filing before it is shown: management’s own words word for word, figures against the line or table row they come from. A point that fails the check is left out. Source opens the filing at that line.