Nu Holdings' loan book is performing even though Brazil's credit cycle is bad; the damage shows up at peers instead. @ThainRos notes the weak cycle is partly why Nu trades at 14x next-twelve-month earnings despite earnings growing around 40%. x.com
Ian Bezek
Investor/Writer, Latin American Equities, Former Analyst at Kerrisdale
Nu Holdings should not accept the impaired multiple that comes with Brazil, since it is an international business spanning Mexico, Colombia and now the US. Brazilian inflation-linked bonds yield more than 7% a year in real terms, a massive obstacle to getting Brazilians to buy local equities. 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
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.com
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
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
Nu Holdings' superior business model will win over the long term regardless of politics. Under Lula, its Q2 2026 presentation shows customers rising to 139 million, revenue per customer to $17, the efficiency ratio falling to 20%, and quarterly net income reaching $1.06 billion; Lula has since been reelected. x.com
Nu Holdings' upcoming earnings look unlikely to be well received if the market does not reward Inter & Co's results, since the two have historically traded similarly around earnings. Both operate in the same credit cycle, but Nu has a much lower share of secured lending, putting it at a credit-risk disadvantage, though it is more diversified across countries. x.com
Nu Holdings is one of the most direct beneficiaries of lower Brazilian rates, which Brazil's election could bring. Deposit costs run at about 88% of interbank rates while card and loan yields adjust slowly, so its 22.9% net interest margin could widen. Lower rates also ease borrowers after 90+ day delinquencies rose to 6.9%, and a stronger real lifts dollar results, with about 85% of customers in Brazil. Nothing is locked in: the runoff, policy and borrower programs could still go differently. … Show more
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
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
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.com