What happened Shares of MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) gained 46% in May 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The surge hinged on a great first-quarter earnings report, which sent the stock 20% higher in a single day. So what The leading e-commerce specialist in Latin America saw the bottom line swing from earnings of $0.13 per share to a net loss of $0.44 per share, but that was still better than the $0.48 loss per share that the analyst consensus was pointing to. More to the point, MercadoLibre's sales jumped 38% higher year over year to $652 million. Here, your average analyst would have settled for $634 million. Now what MercadoLibre started to see headwinds from the COVID-19 health crisis in March. The company was quick to let 9,000 employees work from home, and the MercadoLibre logo changed from a handshake to an elbow-to-elbow greeting in order to strengthen the social distancing idea. A new branding campaign centered around the slogan, "Stay at home, we are still delivering." Image source: MercadoLibre. MercadoLibre is making the best of a difficult situation, and the soft revenue trend in March was followed by a strong rebound in April. We should expect the bottom line to stay negative for the foreseeable future, though. The company is pouring every peso of potential profits into growth-accelerating business expenses such as large marketing campaigns. The first-quarter sales-and-marketing budget rose 58% year over year, outpacing the 38% revenue increase by a wide margin. The next quarter or two should continue that positive trajectory. MercadoLibre investors have now pocketed a 47% return in 2020. 10 stocks we like better than MercadoLibreWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and MercadoLibre wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2020 Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source