Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. MELI scored 77.4, CART scored 73.5 — MELI leads.
Compare another set
MELI
MercadoLibre, Inc.
Internet Retail · Quality-Growth
77.4
$1,889.85 · $95.8B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
3.9
MELI leads
CART
Maplebear Inc.
Internet Retail · Quality-Growth
73.5
$47.76 · $11.3B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestCART26.1x
Fastest growthMELI+46.0%
Strongest balance sheetCART0.01
Highest qualityCART94 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueMELI-58%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
MELI
stronger →← stronger
CART
75
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
94
96
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
82
64
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
51
MELI is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
MELI
CART
$12.4bA-
FCF
$1.2bC+
+46.0%A
Rev
+10.8%B
1.69C+
D/E
0.01A
51.4xD
P/E
26.1xC+
1.01B+
PEG
1.87C+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
MELI
CART
58% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
57% below
~-7%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-9%/yr
+86%
1-yr DCF upside
+95%
+141%
5-yr DCF upside
+133%
+248%
10-yr DCF upside
+204%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
MELI
Why this score
Durable high returns
CART
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
The companies
MELIMercadoLibre, Inc.
Internet Retail · $1,889.85 · beta 1.31
Why now
Internet Retail · market cap $95.8b. Down 22% from 52-week high of $2428.00 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +46% — in hypergrowth territory. 26 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $2,276 (implying +20% upside).
Moat
ROE 24% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. Free cash flow runs well ahead of reported net income, mostly because of cash released from working capital ($7.5b) — a release that doesn't repeat every year the way earnings can. $95.8b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition.
Risk
Trailing P/E 51.4x prices in sustained high growth — any quarter that disappoints triggers sharp re-rating. E-commerce competition — Amazon, Walmart, Shein, and Temu have each forced the rest of the category to compete on price, fulfillment speed, or assortment; sustaining margins requires one of those being structurally defended.
CARTMaplebear Inc.
Internet Retail · $47.76 · beta 0.87
Why now
Internet Retail · market cap $11.3b. 9% off the 52-week high of $52.68. Revenue growing +11%, comfortably above the S&P median. 28 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $58.21 (implying +22% upside).
Moat
Net margin 12% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 16% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. Free cash flow runs well ahead of reported net income, mostly because of stock-based pay ($401m) — a real cost to shareholders, paid in shares rather than cash.
Risk
E-commerce competition — Amazon, Walmart, Shein, and Temu have each forced the rest of the category to compete on price, fulfillment speed, or assortment; sustaining margins requires one of those being structurally defended.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
MELI leads CART by 9.7 points (78.5 to 68.8), its sharpest advantage coming in FCF (grade A-). A contrarian could still prefer CART, which trades about 65% below our DCF fair value — a margin of safety the score doesn't reward.
Our AI analyst is busy right now, so this verdict is drawn directly from the pillars, grades and DCF above.
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where MELI and CART diverge
On the headline score the gap is 3.9 points in favor of MELI. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
QualityMELI 74.9 · CART 93.7CART +18.8
GrowthMELI 96.4 · CART 82.4MELI +14.0
ValueMELI 64.3 · CART 51.5MELI +12.8
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is MELI or CART the better stock?
MELI scores higher: MELI 77.4, CART 73.5 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do MELI and CART differ most?
The widest gap is quality, where CART leads by 19 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. Neither name sweeps: they trade the lead across the three pillars, so the comparison is a trade-off rather than one being better on every measure.
How are MELI and CART scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.