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 election result could start fixing Inter's real problem, profitability, by lowering long-term rates, which in Brazil are driven mainly by fiscal policy. Cheaper loans and funding and customers better able to keep up with payments could lower cost of risk over time. Inter's ROE barely clears investors' required return, so the market has refused to pay for its growth. At around $6 it traded at 7.8x this year's earnings and 6.1x next year's. Nothing is decided until the 25 October runoff. … 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' 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 

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' 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 

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 

Brazil could be the Q4 macro story after Flávio Bolsonaro won the election's first round and, with most eliminated votes leaning right, became the runoff favorite against Lula. Brazil-linked stocks were priced for disaster on US yields, election risk and rate fears. Nu is the quality blue chip, while Inter & Co and PicPay have far more room to grow and are much cheaper; StoneCo, PagSeguro, dLocal and MercadoLibre are also candidates. 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 

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.com