SAO PAULO, May 7 (Reuters) - Latin American e-commerce

giant MercadoLibre ( MELI ) posted on Wednesday a 44% net profit

increase in the first quarter from a year earlier, above

analysts' estimates as operations in Argentina bounced back.

MercadoLibre ( MELI ), Latin's America most valuable company by market

capitalization, posted a net profit of $494 million for the

quarter ended in March, above the $420.9 million seen in an LSEG

poll of analysts.

MercadoLibre ( MELI ) said in an earnings statement that Argentina

was the main highlight of the quarter, with its sales in the

country as measured by Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) growing

126% on a foreign-exchange neutral basis, compared to a total

GMV increase of 40%.

Chief Financial Officer Martin de los Santos told Reuters

that a weaker comparison base helped its Argentine operations

year-on-year due to the initial impacts of a devaluation of the

peso currency in late 2023.

Lower inflation and interest rates also drove greater sales

and appetite for credit in the nation, he added.

"We have seen improvements on our platforms (in Argentina)

in the last few quarters and they continued in the first

quarter," he said.

The strong numbers out of Argentina bumped it back up to

MercadoLibre's ( MELI ) No. 2 market by revenues, de los Santos said,

overtaking Mexico and behind top dog Brazil. Argentina had lost

the position last year.

MercadoLibre ( MELI ), which relies on its e-commerce marketplace and

fintech Mercado Pago for most of its revenue, posted total

revenues at $5.9 billion, up 37% year-on-year, also beating

analysts' expectations of $5.51 billion.

MercadoLibre ( MELI ) has been delivering mostly consistent beats to

market estimates in recent years, amid heavy investments across

Latin America, a strategy that has also sparked some investor

concern over short-term profitability.

Its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came in at

$763 million, above the $617.4 million forecasted by analysts

and a 45% increase year-on-year. Its EBIT margin stood at 12.9%,

up from the 12.2% reported a year earlier.

On the fintech front, MercadoLibre ( MELI ) grew its credit portfolio

75% year-on-year to $7.8 billion, driven especially by credit

cards. It was at $6.6 billion in December.

Meanwhile, the 15-to-90 days default ratio stood at 8.2%, up

0.8 percentage points quarter-on-quarter and down from 9.3% a

year ago.