Nu Holdings still trades at just 13x 2027 earnings despite its recent jump, a low price for a bank that dominates every market it enters. It just became the largest digital bank in Mexico and is coming to the US next year. x.com
Oguz Erkan
Investor, Founder of Capitalist Letters
Nu is depressed because Brazil's rates stayed higher for longer, but sharply slowing GDP growth means cuts are coming, likely faster if the Iran war ends and oil flows recover. It also fully launches as a US bank in 2027. At 12x 2027 earnings, with a $18 consensus target implying 25% upside, it is a no-brainer. x.com
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.com
Nu and MercadoLibre's biggest secular-growth advantage is resilience to electoral and macro shocks. Nu hit 139 million customers and $1 billion quarterly net income through Brazil's recession, impeachment and pandemic. MercadoLibre survived the dot-com crash and devaluations; Mercado Pago has nearly 78 million monthly users and credit growth above 90% year on year. With regional e-commerce growing 15%-20% annually, their value through 2027 depends on adoption and delinquencies, not one election. … Show more
Nu's 33% ROE is not proven until it survives a full credit cycle, because a bank's underwriting is only tested when borrowers stop paying. Per @sytaylor, Q2 revenue rose 39% to $5.9bn and net income topped $1bn. The open question is what happens to that ROE when unemployment rises, payments are missed, credit losses climb and money gets more expensive. Brazil's slowing economy and rising NPLs are not the same as a full cycle; until then the reported ROE is somewhat fake. x.com x.com x.com
Nu Holdings' sustained growth makes election-driven pessimism look overdone. Quarterly revenue before credit-loss provisions grew at a 45.1% annualized rate from Q1 2023 to Q2 2026 under Lula. This Brazilian shock looks like the tariff scare, when markets quickly shrugged off initial pessimism. FedexSTi notes that Nu reached 139 million customers and $1 billion in quarterly net income after enduring Brazil's 2014-16 recession, Dilma's impeachment and the pandemic. x.com x.com x.com
Nu Holdings still has a massive runway as Nubank expands deeper across Latin America, having already built one of the region's largest digital banking platforms. x.com
Nu's prolonged app-access failure makes its claim to be a strong tech bank doubtful and could deter other Americans from using it. Five days after being locked out abroad, selecting the US still has not restored access; Nu's support suggested that same step. After this banking experience, investing in Nu no longer makes sense. x.com x.com x.com
Nubank is a good entry again because enough uncertainty is priced in to justify the remaining downside risk. Underwriting and risk-adjusted returns have never been better and keep surprising to the upside, and the loan book is very short-dated. Payroll and secured loans are its next growth wave in Brazil, where it adds 12 million users a year while ARPAC rises. With 40–50%+ ROE and close to 50% revenue growth, it is not out of growth. x.com x.com x.com x.com
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.com
MercadoLibre already covers Latin American consumer-finance exposure, so there's no need to own Nu, which is even harder to truly understand. Nu is all finance under foreign laws and culture, very difficult for a US investor to grasp, and MercadoLibre's business segments are hard enough. Given the disadvantage in analyzing international stocks, it is better to own only what can be truly understood. x.com
Nu's outlook improves now that Nubank is not pursuing Monzo via acquisition, easing concern about spreading too thin. The worry was that a deal would come just as Nu ramps in Mexico and Colombia and launches in the United States; add a Super El Nino and it would not have been a disaster, but the market's upset was understandable. x.com x.com