SAO PAULO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Latin American e-commerce

giant MercadoLibre ( MELI ) on Wednesday posted a near 11%

increase in its third-quarter net profit, missing market

estimates as logistics and credit costs offfset revenue growth.

MercadoLibre ( MELI ) posted a net income of $397 million for the

quarter ended in September, while analysts polled by LSEG were

expecting a profit of $542 million.

The company, which operates an online marketplace in around

20 countries and runs fintech Mercado Pago, reported $5.3

billion in net revenue, up 35% year-on-year and in line with

estimates.

Its sales measured by gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 14%

year-on-year, with Brazil, its largest market, reporting 34%

growth and Mexico growing 27%.

Chief Financial Officer Martin de los Santos told Reuters

that most of the profitability pressure in the quarter came from

the firm's spending push to boost its credit-card portfolio and

e-commerce logistics.

"What probably happened is that the market did underestimate

the amount of investments we are doing in credit card," he told

Reuters when asked about the profit miss.

MercadoLibre's ( MELI ) operational results, as measured by earnings

before interest and taxes (EBIT), came in at $557 million in the

quarter, down almost 30% year-on-year and also below analysts'

expectations of $783 million.

Its EBIT margin came in at 10.8%, from 18.2% a year earlier

in comparable terms.

Mercado Pago's credit portfolio reached $6 billion in the

quarter, up 77% year-on-year at its fastest growth since the

first quarter of 2022.