MELI 1Q08 Earnings Recap

MercadoLibre's 1Q08 Earnings Report Stats:

Beat ? --> NO (reported 5 cents/share vs estimates of 9 cents/share)

Profits --> Up 108% to $2.1 million (from $1.0 million)
Sales --> Up 75% to $28.8 million (from $16.5 million)

Marketplace Revs: Up 65% to $23.5 million (from $14.2 million)
Payments (Mercado Pago) Revs: Up 137% to $5.4 million (from $2.3 million)

Registered Users: Up 35% to 26.5 million (from 19.7 million)

Transaction Volume Stats:
Gross Merchandise Volume: Up 44% to $449.7 million (from $312.5 million)
Total Payment Volume: Up 97% to $52.3 million (from $26.6 million)
Amount of Items Sold: Up 17.2% to 4.6 million items (from 3.9 million)

Gross Profit Margin: 79.1% (vs. 78.8% a year ago)

Effective Tax Rate: 58.1% (!)

Other Highlights + Guidance:
*Marcos Galperin, CEO of MercadoLibre: "We've had a great start to 2008, as we achieved high levels of growth in all of our key metrics including revenue, gross merchandise volume, and total payments volume. A key driver of our success continues to be the increasing number of Latin American households with broadband Internet access, which is currently growing at one of the fastest rates in the world. We plan to leverage this expansion of our market by executing our strategy of providing users with a world-class trading experience, thereby further solidifying our market leadership."

*MELI's 1Q08 net income reflects an effective tax rate of 58.1%...in part due to added tax expenses derived from the introduction of new taxes in Mexico as well as certain new non-deductible expenses incurred in Venezuela

*MELI's 1Q08 income from operations included the impact of a $0.4 million accrual of compensation expenses related to the Classified Media Group, Inc. (CMG) acquisition. MELI expects that the remaining $1.5 million in compensation expenses related to the CMG acquisition will be recorded in 2Q08.

*MELI's Marketplace Sales by Country:
1.) Brazil: Up 55% to $11.9 million (from $7.7 million) = 51%
2.) Argentina: Up 59% to $3.5 million (from $2.2 million) = 15%
3.) Mexico: Up 32% to $2.9 million (from $2.2 million) = 12%
4.) 'Other': Up 143% to $5.1 million (from $2.1 million) = 22%

*Per my 4/30/08 'World's Largest Internet Users' post:
* Brazil has the 6th largest Internet pop (39m) and is ONLY 21% penetrated
* Argentina has the 18th largest Internet pop (18m) and is 50% penetrated
* Mexico has the 13th largest Internet pop (23m) and is ONLY 21% penetrated

Full Disclosure: I own shares of MELI.