Stone Fox Capital
Founder, CIO & Portfolio Manager of Stone Fox Capital
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
Nu Holdings is getting tasty as it hits new 52-week lows while still reporting substantial growth. Susquehanna's downgrade to Neutral, cutting its target to $13 from $18 on investment-cycle and credit-card margin pressure, came at about 11x 2027 EPS after a big sell-off, another analyst ringing the bottom. Nu also brought in an experienced US CFO just before entering the US banking market. x.com x.comÂ
Brazil's political developments have driven a selloff that makes Nu Holdings a dip opportunity. NU is down 19% amid the market's reaction. x.comÂ
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.comÂ
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.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
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
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.comÂ
Nu Holdings' growth under Lula makes today's selloff look absurd. On a TTM basis since Q1 2023, revenue rose 270% and net income went from a $180 million loss to $3.61 billion, or $0.74 EPS; having done so well during his term, it should be fine going forward. x.com x.com 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
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.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
