dLocal (DLO) Q3 2026: EPS Beat, Revenue Miss, and a Take-Rate Squeeze
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 12, 2026.
Payment volume jumped 77% year over year to $18.3 billion, yet gross profit rose only 28% as take rate slipped to 0.72%, with revenue missing expectations. The EPS beat leaned on an 11% sequential cut to operating expenses plus a one-off Nigeria cost recovery, and FX in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina is pushing operating profit growth toward the low end of guidance.
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dLocal posted GAAP diluted EPS of $0.23 for the third quarter of 2026, clearing the $0.21 consensus by 11.6%. Revenue of $398.1 million grew 40.9% year over year but landed 1.3% below the $403.3 million estimate, making for a genuinely mixed result that the headline EPS figure alone does not capture.
Total payment volume reached $18.3 billion, up 77% year over year and the eighth consecutive quarter above 50% growth. That volume surge did not translate evenly into profit: gross profit rose only 28% as the take rate slipped to 0.72%, down from 0.99% a year earlier, driven by a rising share of local-to-local and pay-out flows that carry thinner margins. Gross profit itself came in at $132 million, while operating income grew 37% to $76 million.
The EPS beat owed more to cost management than to top-line strength. Operating expenses fell 11% sequentially to $55.9 million, pushing the operating-profit-to-gross-profit ratio to 58% from 50% the prior quarter. A one-off cost recovery in Nigeria and foreign-exchange hedge gains also lifted the GAAP figure, though the dollar amounts of those items were not disclosed.
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On the full-year outlook, management kept its guidance intact: TPV growth of 60% to 70% year over year, tracking toward the upper end, and gross profit growth of 25% to 30%, tracking toward the midpoint. Operating profit growth, guided at 27.5% to 32.5%, is tracking toward the lower end, with FX headwinds in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina named as the primary drag. Net revenue retention of 140% signals that existing merchants are expanding their use of the platform, but top-10 merchants still account for 62% of revenue, a concentration risk that remains in focus.
Looking ahead, investors have two near-term events to follow. A final appellate ruling in dLocal's claim against a third-party payment processor is expected in early December 2026, and an annual general meeting is scheduled for December 2. Repayment of the company's new $150 million credit facility, signed in August 2026, begins February 12, 2027.
Mentioned: DLO