TLDR
- Nu Holdings (NU) stock rose about 3% to 4% in Friday premarket trading, near $12.20 to $12.31.
- Q3 net income hit a record $1.1 billion, up 31% on an FX-neutral basis.
- Customers grew by 3.7 million to 143 million, and the 2026 efficiency ratio target was cut to 19%-19.5%.
- Mexico added 870,000 customers in its first quarter as a licensed bank.
- The 90-plus-day delinquency ratio rose to 7.3% from 6.9%.
Nu Holdings (NU) stock rose between 3% and 4% in Friday premarket trading, with quotes landing between $12.20 and $12.31. The move followed record third-quarter results released Thursday night.
The bounce comes after a rough stretch. The stock had dropped about 25% over the previous month on macro worries about Brazil.
Net income hit $1.1 billion, up 31% on an FX-neutral basis. Gross revenue climbed 37% to $6.3 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.22. Benzinga said that matched estimates, while Investing.com said it landed a cent below the $0.23 forecast.
Return on equity reached 32%. Nu added 3.7 million customers, bringing its total to 143 million.
The efficiency ratio improved to 19.3% from 20.3% a year earlier. Nu also trimmed its 2026 efficiency ratio forecast to 19%-19.5%, from about 20%.
Mexico, Brazil and Colombia
Mexico added 870,000 customers in its first quarter as a fully licensed bank. The base there rose 27% to 16.6 million, or 17% of adults.
CEO David Vélez said Mexico could reach about 70% of the size of Brazil’s business in the base case. Credit card use in Mexico sits at 12%, compared with 75% to 80% in Brazil.
In Brazil, Nu serves about 120 million customers, or 65% of adults. Its activity rate hit a record 86.3%.
Unsecured personal loan originations in Brazil rose 28% to a record 22.1 billion reais. That is a lot of reais.
Colombia’s customer base jumped 62% to 6.1 million. Nu is now the country’s largest credit card issuer by cardholder count, with 3 million.
New Products and the Credit Book
Nu US launched Sept. 10 with a fee-free account paying a 3.5% annual yield, now open in all 50 states. It also offers fee-free transfers to Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, plus a no-annual-fee card with 1.5% cash back.
Nu Global, a stablecoin-based multicurrency account, launched Oct. 15 and already has customers in 37 countries. Management expects the two businesses to weigh on the efficiency ratio by no more than 100 basis points in each of 2026 and 2027.
The credit portfolio grew 33% to $41.6 billion. Card balances rose 32% to $27.2 billion, and unsecured lending jumped 39% to $11 billion.
Deposits rose 19% on an FX-neutral basis to $47.5 billion. Net interest income reached $3.9 billion, up from $3.7 billion, with a net interest margin of 22.5%.
The 90-plus-day delinquency ratio rose to 7.3% from 6.9% last quarter. Management said part of the increase reflects a growing share of interest-earning balances.
The allowance for credit losses rose to $7.1 billion from $6.6 billion. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both slightly lower, and Nu stock was up about 4% at $12.31 in premarket trading.
