Mercado Libre (MELI) Q3 revenue $10,750 million vs $10876 million est.

MercadoLibre reported third-quarter net revenue and financial income of $10.75 billion, up 45% year over year but below the $10.876 billion analyst estimate, sending a rare miss for the Latin American e-commerce and fintech group. Income from operations fell 6% to $676 million, a 6.3% margin, as the company absorbed higher free-shipping costs, new fulfillment capacity ahead of peak season and increased affiliate marketing spend in Brazil. Net income was $448 million, a 4.2% margin, while total payment volume rose 53% to $109 billion and gross merchandise volume grew 38% to $23 billion. Management framed the margin compression as a deliberate trade-off, investing current profitability to deepen engagement—buyers now average 12 purchases a year and ecosystemic users grew 33%—and gain share in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Investors will watch whether the fulfillment and marketing outlays convert into sustained margin recovery and whether revenue growth reaccelerates toward consensus in the fourth quarter.