LIVE
MELI
MercadoLibre, Inc. · Technology - Latin American E-Commerce & Fintech
$1,635.15
+2.53% this month
VERSUS
⟷
COMPARE
PAGS
PagSeguro Digital Ltd. · Financials - Brazilian Payment Processing
$8.82
-1.45% this month
Scoreboard verdict
Across AI score, momentum, valuation, upside, operating margin
MELI
2
PAGS
2
Comparison scoreboard
MIXED SETUPAI Score
MELI ✓62.8
PAGS 23.4
1Y Return
MELI -31.95%
PAGS ✓-0.98%
Fwd P/E
MELI 27.19
PAGS ✓0.91
Target Up.
MELI ✓+39.47%
PAGS +35.65%
Op. Margin
MELI 6.91%
PAGS N/A
Metrics last refreshed: 6/20/2026
Quick take
MELI vs PAGS Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
MELI (MercadoLibre) and PAGS (PagSeguro) are both Latin American fintech companies with Brazilian payment processing at their core — but MELI is a much larger, multi-country commerce-and-fintech conglomerate, while PAGS is a Brazil-focused merchant payments and digital banking specialist. MercadoLibre offers scale and ecosystem breadth; PagSeguro offers Brazilian market depth.
MELI vs PAGS is Latin American fintech conglomerate (MercadoLibre's commerce+fintech flywheel across 18 countries) versus Brazilian merchant payments and digital banking specialist (PagSeguro's focused SMB-to-bank expansion) — very different scale but both exposed to Brazil's large digital financial opportunity.
Live analysis · updated 6/20/2026
MELI and PAGS are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly. PAGS leads on both 1-year return (-0.98%) and forward P/E (0.91x vs 27.19x for MELI), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for MELI (+39.47%) than for PAGS (+35.65%).
Normalized 1Y performance
MELI
PAGS
Recent returns
MELI
PAGS
Analyst price targets & sentiment
MELI · 25 analysts
STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL
Buy (1.6/5.0)
Price target range
analyst low$1,868.21
analyst high$3,200.00
analyst mean$2,216.96
current price$1,635.15
+39.5% upside to analyst mean
PAGS · 14 analysts
Price target range
analyst low$7.35
analyst high$14.12
analyst mean$11.96
current price$8.82
+35.7% upside to analyst mean
Who should consider this stock?
MELI may suit investors who:
- →Want the dominant Latin American commerce and fintech ecosystem with Mercado Libre marketplace, Mercado Pago payments, Mercado Credito lending, and logistics across 18 countries
- →Value MercadoLibre's flywheel between commerce data and credit underwriting as a durable competitive advantage that deepens over time
- →Are comfortable with multi-country Latin American exposure (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina) and the macroeconomic complexity of operating across diverse economies
PAGS may suit investors who:
- →Want Brazil-focused merchant payment processing and digital banking exposure at a smaller scale and potentially better valuation than MercadoLibre
- →Value PagSeguro's SMB merchant payment leadership and the expansion opportunity from transaction processing into banking services for the same customer base
- →See Brazil's large underbanked SMB population as an addressable market for digital financial services that PagSeguro is uniquely positioned to serve
Performance & AI score
| Metric | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 62.8 | 23.4 |
| AI rank | #88 | #3571 |
| Latest close | $1,635.15 | $8.82 |
| 1M return | +2.53% | -1.45% |
| 6M return | -14.67% | -3.30% |
| 1Y return | -31.95% | -0.98% |
$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $6.81K (-31.9%) started 2025-06-18 | $10.29K (+2.9%) started 2025-06-18 |
| 5Y ago | $11.14K (+11.4%) started 2021-06-18 | $1.78K (-82.2%) started 2021-06-18 |
| 10Y ago | $121.04K (+1110.4%) started 2016-06-20 | $3.37K (-66.3%) started 2018-01-24 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
Valuation & upside potential
| Metric | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $80.59B | $2.47B |
| Trailing P/E | 42.02 | 6.08 |
| Forward P/E | 27.19 | 0.91 |
| Price/Sales | 5.62 | 0.12 |
| EV/Revenue | 2.75 | 0.14 |
| Analyst target | $2,216.96 | $11.96 |
| Target upside | +39.47% | +35.65% |
Growth, profitability & risk
| Metric | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 49.00% | 1.50% |
| Earnings growth | -15.60% | 12.20% |
| EPS growth | -15.60% | +12.20% |
| FCF margin | -12.91% | +26.40% |
| Operating margin | 6.91% | N/A |
| Profit margin | 6.04% | 10.79% |
| ROIC proxy | 31.26% | 14.52% |
| Return on equity | 31.26% | 14.52% |
| Dividend yield | N/A | 11.58% |
| Beta | 1.35 | 1.29 |
| Debt/equity | 169.98 | 17.59 |
| Current ratio | 1.16 | 1.43 |
| Quick ratio | 0.44 | 1.33 |
Drawdown & downside risk
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
1Y risk snapshot
MELI max drawdown40.82%
PAGS max drawdown27.21%
MELI max wkly drop15.16%
PAGS max wkly drop17.10%
5Y risk snapshot
MELI max drawdown68.64%
PAGS max drawdown89.84%
MELI max wkly drop33.57%
PAGS max wkly drop34.51%
10Y risk snapshot
MELI max drawdown69.12%
PAGS max drawdown90.00%
MELI max wkly drop33.57%
PAGS max wkly drop39.44%
Performance metrics by period
| Period | Metric | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | -31.95% | -0.98% |
| CAGR | -31.96% | -0.98% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.89 | 0.12 | |
| Max drawdown | 40.82% | 27.21% | |
| Max daily drop | 12.70% | 11.76% | |
| Max wkly drop | 15.16% | 17.10% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +11.38% | -83.11% |
| CAGR | +2.18% | -29.93% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.20 | -0.35 | |
| Max drawdown | 68.64% | 89.84% | |
| Max daily drop | 16.88% | 23.78% | |
| Max wkly drop | 33.57% | 34.51% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +1110.42% | -68.13% |
| CAGR | +28.34% | -12.73% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.66 | 0.01 | |
| Max drawdown | 69.12% | 90.00% | |
| Max daily drop | 16.88% | 23.78% | |
| Max wkly drop | 33.57% | 39.44% |
Business comparison
| Category | MELI | PAGS |
|---|---|---|
| Company | MercadoLibre, Inc. | PagSeguro Digital Ltd. |
| Sector | Consumer Cyclical | Financials - Brazilian Payment Processing |
| Industry | Internet Retail | N/A |
| Core business | MercadoLibre operates Latin America's largest e-commerce marketplace (Mercado Libre) and financial services platform (Mercado Pago) — offering digital payments, peer-to-peer transfers, merchant acquiring, consumer and SMB lending, insurance, and investment products across 18 Latin American countries. | PagSeguro Digital is a Brazilian fintech providing payment processing solutions for merchants (POS terminals, payment links, e-commerce gateway), digital banking (PagBank account with debit, prepaid card, and investment features), and business credit products — primarily serving Brazilian small and medium businesses and self-employed individuals. |
| Investor focus | Investors track MercadoLibre's total payment volume (TPV) for Mercado Pago, credit portfolio growth and quality, GMV on the marketplace, and revenue growth across Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico as the three primary markets. | Investors track PagSeguro's total payment volume (TPV), revenue, take rate per transaction, active merchants, and PagBank financial services penetration as the company evolves from pure payment processor to digital bank. |
MELI strengths
- →Mercado Pago has expanded beyond marketplace payments to become a standalone digital financial services platform for consumers and merchants not using Mercado Libre's marketplace
- →Commerce + fintech flywheel — Mercado Libre transaction data informs Mercado Credito credit underwriting, and credit availability drives more marketplace purchases, creating a self-reinforcing ecosystem
- →Scale across 18 countries provides geographic diversification within Latin America beyond any single country's economic cycle
PAGS strengths
- →Brazilian SMB and micro-merchant payment processing leadership — PagSeguro pioneered accessible payment technology for small Brazilian businesses with its mPOS (mobile point of sale) dongle
- →PagBank digital bank account expands revenue beyond transaction fees into banking services (deposits, investments, credit) for the same merchant and consumer customer base
- →No-fee banking value proposition for underbanked Brazilian consumers attracts accounts that traditional banks charge fees to serve
Risks to watch — MELI
- →MercadoLibre's geographic breadth includes Argentina — Argentina's severe economic instability (high inflation, currency controls, peso devaluation) creates significant accounting and operational complexity
- →Fintech credit operations require sophisticated risk management — rapid credit portfolio growth can outpace underwriting quality, creating potential NPL risk in economic downturns
- →Competition from Nubank, Mercado Pago, and other fintechs is intensifying across Latin American markets — each player is seeking to build the widest financial services ecosystem
Risks to watch — PAGS
- →Brazilian fintech competition is intense — Nubank, MercadoPago, Stone Co (STNE), Cielo, and others all compete for Brazilian merchants and consumers in payment processing and digital banking
- →Interest rate sensitive business — PagBank's digital bank faces higher deposit competition when Brazilian interest rates are high, as consumers seek higher-yielding alternatives
- →Take rates in Brazilian payment processing have compressed over time as competition increased — sustaining revenue per transaction requires expansion into higher-margin financial services
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