Despite making massive gains for shareholders over the last 20 years, both Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) have underperformed the S&P 500 index over the last five years. That’s right, the two e-commerce giants have delivered only meager gains in recent years, trailing a stock market index that has delivered a total return of 86% over the last five years alone.
The two businesses continue to hum along, with dual growth engines alongside their core e-commerce and logistics marketplaces. But which one is the better buy today?
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Here’s what the data says.
MercadoLibre operates as a financial technology and e-commerce giant in many Latin American markets, including Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. With payment technology, logistics infrastructure, and a wide selection of products, MercadoLibre’s scale in the marketplace allows it to offer significant discounts to customers while still generating a profit.
This has led to massive revenue growth as the business reinvests to expand its services. In the last 10 years, MercadoLibre’s revenue has grown from $1 billion to $29 billion in 2025, driven by the expansion of its fintech and e-commerce platform across a wide range of Latin American geographies.
Growth continued in the fourth quarter of 2025, with overall revenue growth of 47% in constant currency, total payment volume (TPV) of 53%, and gross merchandise volume (GMV) of 37% on its e-commerce platform. And yet, investors decided to sell the stock after the report due to compressing profit margins, with an operating margin of 10.1% in the quarter.
Even with these depressed margins, MercadoLibre trades at an enterprise value-to-EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) ratio of 27. If this revenue growth can continue alongside a recovery in its profitability, MercadoLibre stock will do well for investors in the years to come.
Amazon is in a more mature phase of its business, at least in e-commerce. The retail operation has become much more profitable in recent years, pushing the overall operating margin to 11.8% over the last 12 months, an all-time high. North American retail sales are still growing 10% year over year, which is driving strong operating leverage for the company.