MELI vs BBVA Comparison

MercadoLibre runs the largest e-commerce marketplace in Latin America, with more than 218 million active users and 1 million active sellers across 18 countries stitching into its commerce network or fintech solutions when last reported. The company operates a host of complementary businesses to its core online shop, with shipping solutions (Mercado Envios), a payment and financing operation (Mercado Pago and Mercado Credito), advertisements (Mercado Clics), classifieds, and a turnkey e-commerce solution (Mercado Shops) rounding out its arsenal. MercadoLibre generates revenue from final value fees, advertising royalties, payment processing, insertion fees, subscription fees, and interest income from consumer and small-business lending.

Despite its Spanish origins, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria generates only around one-fourth of its profits in Spain. We expect that on a normalized basis, BBVA's market-leading Mexican bank should contribute half of its earnings, while its Turkish operation should account for another 15%. The balance of BBVA's earnings comes from smaller operations in South America. BBVA is overwhelmingly a retail and commercial bank, with corporate and investment banking forming a minor part of the overall business. BBVA also offers insurance and investment products through its banking networks.