Sam Badawi
Stock Analyst, Creator of Origins of Alpha & Quarterly Conviction
Colombia's election of a pro-business candidate could be a tailwind for fintech and e-commerce and for lower rates, which is bullish for dLocal, Nu Holdings, MercadoLibre and StoneCo if the new administration follows through on a more market-friendly agenda. Nubank is already expanding across Colombia and Mexico; its revenue grew from $2.2B to $3.7B in five quarters while operating expenses stayed roughly flat near $650M, showing operating leverage. x.comÂ
Latin American equities' sell-off looks overdone as long as the underlying businesses keep growing and fundamentals remain intact. Under that condition, the drop is market noise, and MercadoLibre and Nu Holdings could offer attractive opportunities amid the panic. x.comÂ
Excellent management makes dLocal, MercadoLibre and Nu Holdings three great companies to pick up at a discount after the Lula-election selloff. Their Brazil exposure sent them down 9%, 9% and 22% on claims that the investment climate had worsened, a claim worth questioning. x.comÂ
South American political unpredictability keeps investors from rewarding MercadoLibre's excellent fundamentals. Today's selloff illustrates that risk, despite the strength of the business. x.com x.comÂ
Nu Holdings' US entry targets people from Latin America now living there, rather than direct competition with SoFi or Robinhood; entering the US matters much more than Brazil's election. After Lula's reelection, Nu opened down 21% and was testing its yearly lows. This dip is likely a great long-term buy. x.com x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre and Nu Holdings have massive runways and have thrived across political backdrops, so they do not need tax cuts or deregulation to keep winning. Both have performed extremely well in Brazil under Lula since 2023, even in a fragile macro backdrop. The election-driven selloff left these cream-of-the-crop businesses at lower multiples, and more near-term selloffs are possible. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Political uncertainty and Amazon competition have held MercadoLibre's stock back despite a humming business. The company is great and the stock deserves to turn, but at roughly 45 times earnings and only about 12% gained over five years, it has remained a difficult stock to own. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre's business results should begin inflecting as credit portfolio growth slows now that the book has reached scale. An excellent outcome in Brazil improves the economic backdrop, and the stock sat at the technical bottom of its consolidation wedge. The economic backdrop, forward results and technicals all look very bullish. x.com x.comÂ
MercadoLibre's commerce and fintech revenue growth underpins the view that its shares are undervalued at current prices. The attached chart shows quarterly commerce services revenue reaching $4.3 billion and fintech revenue $4.4 billion in June 2026, up from $769 million and $467 million in March 2021. x.comÂ
MercadoLibre falls into the disliked software sector despite being a big platform with fintech, and there are many hungry Latin Americans who want to use AI to build software too. x.comÂ
The election news is more bark than bite for Nu Holdings, MercadoLibre, StoneCo and PagSeguro. Funds and institutions seem to have been caught off guard and need to unwind positioning; the four should recover nicely over the next few weeks or months. x.comÂ
