Shares of Nu Holdings (NYSE:NU | NU Price Prediction) are up 10% Friday afternoon to $15.35, while StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) stock is down 6% to $9.59. The split follows both companies reporting Q2 2026 results after Thursday’s close.
This mainly looks like a single-name Nu Holdings repricing within the Latin America fintech complex. MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) stock is rising only 1%, Inter & Co (NASDAQ:INTR) shares are unchanged, and Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) stock is slipping 1%. The iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSEARCA:EWZ) is also hardly moving as the EWZ ETF is only down half a percent today. Meanwhile, the Global X FinTech ETF (NASDAQ:FINX) is down 1.33%, so neither the geography nor the sector seems to be giving Nu Holdings stock a lift.
Nubank is breaking from its own pack, and the flat-to-lower peer action is the evidence. (For clarity: Nu Holdings Ltd. is the legal corporate entity, while Nubank is the consumer brand and the name on the app.) The divergence across Brazilian fintech peers today underscores that this is a company-specific repricing rather than a broader sector rotation.
Record Quarter Powers the Move
Nu Holdings reported Q2 2026 net income of $1.06 billion per Reuters (the company’s release states $1.1 billion), up 49% year over year (YoY) on an FX-neutral basis, beating a Visible Alpha estimate of $967.2 million. This crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in company history. The company’s gross revenue reached nearly $5.9 billion, up 39% YoY, ahead of consensus (Reuters cited $5.6 billion via Visible Alpha; Stocktwits cited roughly $5.48 billion per Koyfin).
Notably, Nu Holdings added roughly 4 million customers in the quarter to reach 139 million globally, with almost 118 million in Brazil, 15.8 million in Mexico and more than 5 million in Colombia. Moreover, Nu Holdings’ average revenue per active customer (ARPAC) reached approximately $17 and the monthly activity rate expanded to 83.5%, with Brazil surpassing 86% for the first time. The company’s gross profit reached $2.4 billion, up 43% YoY, and return on equity (ROE) closed the quarter at 33%.
The bigger surprise sits in the margin line. Nu Holdings’ net interest margin expanded 180 basis points to 22.9%, and risk-adjusted NIM expanded 290 basis points to 12.4% from 9.5% in Q1 2026. Plus, Nu Holdings’ total credit portfolio grew 37% YoY to $39.4 billion and deposits reached $45.3 billion, up 18% YoY.
The Risk Signals Under the Beat
Not everything at Nu Holdings printed clean. Nu’s 90-plus day non-performing loan (NPL) ratio increased 35 basis points to 6.9%, which management attributed largely to seasonal migration of Q1 early delinquencies. In addition, Nu Holdings’ efficiency ratio worsened to 19.5% from 17.6% in Q1, though it still improved from 21.3% in Q2 2025.
Nu Holdings’ cost of credit declined 9% quarter over quarter to $1.7 billion, but per Reuters remains 60% higher than a year earlier. Nu Holdings’ leading 15-90 day NPL ratio did improve 16 basis points to 4.8%, with most of that attributed to seasonality.
Peers Fail to Follow
StoneCo shares are moving the other way after Q2 2026 revenue of R$3.6 billion, cost of risk held at 21.5%, and a R$200 million non-recurring provision tied to a distressed credit card issuer. StoneCo stock is down 35% year to date (YTD), with management flagging a “considerably more challenging” backdrop and guiding toward the lower end of full-year ranges.
Inter & Co stock is down 38% YTD, MercadoLibre shares are down 8% YTD, and Itau Unibanco stock, up 1% YTD, is slipping today. The Global X FinTech ETF is down 10% YTD and the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF, up 5% YTD, is flat on the session. Both funds are diversified, so a single constituent’s move gets diluted, which reinforces the divergence read.
The Valuation and What to Watch
Nu Holdings stock has closed a big valuation gap on the day. Susquehanna raised its price target on Nu Holdings to $16 from $13 while maintaining a Neutral rating, which puts Nu Holdings shares at $15.35 within pennies of that target. Susquehanna analysts wrote, “We believe bull investors were working with ~11% risk-adjusted NIM, meaning this is a solid beat even for investors who were positive into the print.”
If Friday’s gains hold, NU stock shares are on track to reach their highest level in more than five months and post their biggest single-day percentage gain since August 2022. New CFO Rob Livingston stated on Nu Holdings’ analyst call that the current level of risk-adjusted NIM is seen as sustainable in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, founder and global CEO David Velez asserted that the company is “now generating more than a billion dollars in quarterly net income.”
Investors can watch for whether the 90-plus day delinquency uptick is truly seasonal or the start of credit deterioration as Nu Holdings pushes into higher-risk segments, whether the Mexico launch and coming U.S. entry convert into revenue, and whether the sell side lifts targets to catch up with price. Your position sizing should reflect that a stock trading near its analyst target after a 10% single-session jump has limited room on consensus math.
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