MELI is a compelling long-term investment given its dominance in LatAm e-commerce/fintech, low regional penetration allowing for growth, and strong Q2 2026 metrics (50% rev growth).

Yes, okay, the stock of the first day is Mercado Libre. Speaking of fractional shares, given that one share of Mercado Libre costs more than $1,600, that's where the beauty of fractional investing lies.

If you are not familiar with Mercado Libre, it is the largest e-commerce and financial technology company in Latin America. It operates in nearly twenty countries. It is best understood as three different works essentially working together.

There is the e-commerce marketplace, and there is Mercado Pajo, a financial technology platform that offers payments, credit cards, loans, and savings products both on and off its platform.

Then there is "Mercado Invious," its own logistics and shipping network. It's a cumulative effect. Activity in one area of work drives growth in the other area.

Mercado Libre was doing something unusual, building the equivalent of an Amazon and a major financial technology company as a joint business across an entire continent at once.

Latin America’s digital economy still lags significantly behind some of the more developed e-commerce markets. Mercado Libre management has indicated that regional e-commerce penetration is about half the level observed in places like China, the United Kingdom, or the United States.

Therefore, there is ample room for the underlying market to grow before Mercado Libre even needs to acquire a stake from anyone else.

The company has invested heavily to seize this opportunity. They have expanded free shipping thresholds, issued credit cards in markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina and, most importantly, they are building their physical logistics infrastructure across the region.

This is, of course, vital for the growth of e-commerce businesses.

Now, let's put some numbers into context. They announced their results for the second quarter of 2026 in August. Net revenue grew by approximately 50% year-on-year to reach $10 billion.

This is the fastest growth rate in 4 years. The total volume of payments increased by 56 % year-on-year. The total volume of goods increased by 44% year-on-year to reach $22 billion.

The company also announced a net income of $466 million.

Now, there are many growth factors here for Mercado Libre. As you know, apart from the broad growth within the region, which, as I said, is still a story with a long and sustainable path forward, credit activity at Mercado Libre is still in the maturation stage.

For example, personal loan terms in Brazil have been extended from 5 to 8 months as they target a wider range of customers. They are already beginning to expand the issuance of credit cards in Mexico and Argentina in the same way they did in Brazil.

As those newer groups mature, management also indicated that margins there should improve without needing to slow revenue growth.

Mercado Libre also has its own loyalty and subscription program. This is still actually in the early stages of growth. So, basically, you know this is a business that dominates e-commerce and financial technology across an entire continent, but it still has a significant growth trajectory ahead.

It has been working to establish trust in markets where online payments and e-commerce have historically been viewed with genuine skepticism, but it also serves a huge offline customer base and continues to grow those avenues in its business.

The last thing I will point out is, as you know, management really prioritizes growth over profitability at the moment. It is a profitable business, but we have seen a decline in margins.

We have seen the pace of net profit acceleration slow down as they invest in expansion. I personally believe this is the key to a long-term growth story, but of course it is something to pay attention to.

Of course, they operate across multiple currencies and economies with ongoing macroeconomic and political fluctuations. Therefore, this is another layer of risk that must be taken into account within your hypothesis.

But Mercado Libre, in my opinion, is a very compelling business if you want to invest your money in e-commerce and financial technology.