Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its fourth-quarter investor letter for “Polen International Growth Strategy”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In 2025, foreign equity markets reached their highest returns in more than a decade, whereas Polan International Growth had flat returns. This was not attributed to weakening business fundamentals among its holdings, but the market’s preference for cyclically sensitive businesses. The strategy seeks to invest in companies with enduring competitive strengths, high returns on invested capital, and consistent earnings. The Strategy returned -2.21% (gross) and -2.52% (net) in Q4 compared to 5.05% return for MSCI ACWI (ex-USA). For 2025, the Strategy returned 0.68% (gross) and -0.52% (net) compared to 32.39% return for the Index. In addition, please check the Strategy’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Polen International Growth Strategy highlighted MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) as one of its leading detractors. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is a leading online commerce platform in Latin America that operates Mercado Libre Marketplace and Mercado Pago FinTech platforms. On March 17, 2026, MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) stock closed at $1,728.14 per share. One-month return of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) was -13.98%, and its shares lost 16.35% over the past 52 weeks. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) has a market capitalization of $87.61 billion.

Polen International Growth Strategy stated the following regarding MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

"The Portfolio’s top relative and absolute detractors were Monday.com, MercadoLibre, and SAP. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is the largest e-commerce and payments platform in Latin America. The stock declined during the quarter primarily related to a slight decline in operating margin as the company invests in free shipping, marketing and credit products. In our view, management’s aptitude to let go of near term profitability to grow its total addressable market and expand moat has enabled the company to grow topline at 35%+ in its 26th year of existence. The company continues to benefit from low e commerce penetration, low online payment penetration, and low credit penetration in LATAM. Over the years not only do we believe that the company has built a defensible moat but it continues to adapt to make the moat stronger and total addressable market bigger."

MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is in 37th position on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 113 hedge fund portfolios held MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 109 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) and shared a list of best large cap growth stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.