(Bloomberg) -- MercadoLibre Inc.’s aggressive push into credit across Latin America eroded profit in the third quarter, prompting shares to tumble.

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The e-commerce and financial technology giant grew its overall credit book by 77% from a year earlier to $6 billion, with the portion tied to credit cards surging 172% over the same period, according to a release. Provisions set aside for all the lending cut into net income, which at $397 million fell short of the $513 million average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

The company also increased investments in logistics in the quarter while inaugurating five new fulfillment centers in Brazil and another one in Mexico, Chief Financial Officer Martin de los Santos said Wednesday in an interview before the earnings release. Overall revenue met expectations at $5.3 billion.

“This was a quarter of very large growth, but also investments in some of our strategic initiatives — one of which is credit,” de los Santos said. “The credit card is an important part of our fintech strategy.” While it probably adds “a little margin pressure year on year,” the company believes it’s “the right investment for the long-term growth opportunity,” he added.

Shares fell as much as 16% in New York on Thursday to trade at about $1,790 a piece as of 9:47 a.m. It was the biggest intraday drop in more than two years.

Prior to the release, MercadoLibre had gained 35% this year, propelling the Montevideo, Uruguay-based firm to become Latin America’s most valuable company. The selloff on Thursday shaved about $16 billion from its market capitalization.

While its commerce business represents about 60% of revenues, the company is pushing heavily into financial services through its Mercado Pago division, which does everything from processing payments to lending and offering deposit accounts that pay above-market interest rates.

Total users for its commerce arm rose to 61 million people while monthly active users for Mercado Pago was 56 million. Gross merchandise value, or GMV, was $12.9 billion in the quarter with Brazil and Mexico growing 34% and 27% respectively in local currency terms. Total payment volume was $50.7 billion.

“To the extent that GMV momentum remains solid and credit cohorts mature at an increasingly faster pace, these pressures should prove largely temporary,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts led by Irma Sgarz said in a report. “However, we expect MELI shares to remain under pressure, as investors adjust their near-term margin expectations and as they may tactically step aside until they gain more visibility on the next catalyst.”