Latest news with #NuHoldings
Globe and Mail
15 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Can Nubank Repeat Its Brazilian Success in Mexico and Beyond?
The rapid expansion of Nu Holdings Ltd. NU in Brazil has set a high bar, but replicating that momentum in Mexico may prove more complex. Although Nubank Mexico launched with a more aggressive rollout than its Brazilian counterpart, growth metrics suggest a slower trajectory. When Nubank reached 10 million users in Brazil, it was growing at a robust 20% quarter over quarter. In contrast, Nubank Mexico is currently expanding at a more modest 10% quarterly pace, implying a timeline of nearly two years to double its customer base, compared to just one year in Brazil. However, regulatory tailwinds might change the equation. New banking licenses in Mexico could unlock access to payroll loans, currently dominated by a few legacy banks, and enable Nubank to offer deposit insurance. These advancements would not only diversify Nubank's revenue streams but also strengthen consumer trust, a crucial factor in financial services adoption. Yet the road ahead is still rocky. Mexican incumbents have had a front-row seat to Nubank's disruptive rise in Brazil. This has given them ample time to fortify their defenses, upgrade digital offerings and safeguard their customer base. Unlike in Brazil, where traditional banks were caught off guard, Mexican institutions are preemptively countering Nubank's market entry, likely slowing its path to dominance. In summary, while Mexico presents promising regulatory and market potential, Nubank may struggle to recreate the explosive growth it experienced in Brazil. Future success will depend on both strategic execution and the ability to navigate entrenched competition in newer markets. Peer Pressure? While NU continues to surge ahead in Latin America, U.S.-based peers like SoFi Technologies SOFI and Block XYZ are taking different routes to growth. SoFi is focusing on deepening customer relationships through bundled financial services like lending, investing and banking. Its strategy seems to emphasize lifetime value over rapid user expansion. Meanwhile, Block is sharpening its dual ecosystem approach, serving both individual users through Cash App and small businesses via Square. While both SoFi and Block are evolving steadily, NU's pace and scale of customer acquisition in emerging markets underscore a distinct momentum that sets it apart in the global fintech landscape. NU's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates The stock has rallied 18% year to date, underperforming the industry 's 22% growth. From a valuation standpoint, NU trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, well above the industry's 9.2. It carries a Value Score of D. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NU's second-quarter 2025 earnings has been on the decline over the past 60 days. NU stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Only $1 to See All Zacks' Buys and Sells We're not kidding. Several years ago, we shocked our members by offering them 30-day access to all our picks for the total sum of only $1. No obligation to spend another cent. Thousands have taken advantage of this opportunity. Thousands did not - they thought there must be a catch. Yes, we do have a reason. We want you to get acquainted with our portfolio services like Surprise Trader, Stocks Under $10, Technology Innovators, and more, that closed 256 positions with double- and triple-digit gains in 2024 alone. See Stocks Now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU): Free Stock Analysis Report SoFi Technologies, Inc. (SOFI): Free Stock Analysis Report Block, Inc. (XYZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Here Are My Top 2 Growth Stocks to Buy Now
Nu has massive long-term opportunities ahead, and it's not exposed to new tariffs. SoFi is the future of U.S. banking as it attracts a young, upwardly mobile population. 10 stocks we like better than Nu Holdings › With the market just starting to get back into positive territory for the year, and many companies dealing with macroeconomic and policy impacts, can you find growth stocks to buy? The answer is an emphatic yes. You only have to take a look at what billionaire investors like Warren Buffett are doing to see that there are great stocks to buy today whatever your investing strategy. You have to be in it to win it, and since no one knows where the market is going next, you should continue to invest for your long-term goals. Most individual portfolios should have a mix of growth stocks and value stocks in addition to other categories and be diversified across size and industry. If you have a longer investing time frame, you might weigh your portfolio more toward growth stocks. If you're looking for a pair of excellent growth stocks, Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) and SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) are two great choices. Nu is an all-digital bank servicing Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. It's growing rapidly across metrics, from members to revenue to profits to assets under management. It started as a platform to offer financial services to Brazil's underbanked population, which faces high barriers to entry in the traditional banking system. But it has quickly caught on among all demographics for its easy-to-use and tech-strong app, and it counts 59% of Brazil's adult population as members. The Brazil market is already quite robust, but Nu is still growing at strong rates, adding a million new members monthly in recent quarters. It's growing even faster in Mexico and Colombia, where it's still a minor player but has outsized opportunities. It added 4.3 million members in total in the 2025 first quarter, or 19 million since last year, a 19% increase for a total of 118.6 million. Nu has a strategy of upselling and cross-selling new products from its diverse assortment, and combined with new members, it's enjoying high growth. Revenue increased 40% year over year in the first quarter. It's also a low-cost operator, with no physical branches, a model that lends itself to high profitability. The interest-earnings portfolio increased 62% in the first quarter, and the net interest income also adds to strong profits. Net income totaled $557 million in the quarter, a 74% increase over last year (currency neutral). Nu stock fell earlier this year after the news that Berkshire Hathaway sold out of it. But as a tech-focused growth stock, it was never the typical Buffett pick. It's been soaring the past few weeks since it doesn't have much exposure to U.S. tariffs, and it continues to deliver strong results. Management has made reference to becoming a global company, and it's just getting started. Between new markets, new products, and new members, Nu has fantastic long-term opportunities. SoFi is actually very similar to Nu, but it's based in the U.S. It's fairly small today compared to the bigger U.S. banks, and it comes in at No. 60 on the list of largest U.S. banks. But it's growing much faster than most of its peers, and it envisions rising to become one of the top 10 banks in the country. It's adding members at a fast clip, with a record 800,000 new additions in the first quarter, a 34% increase year over year. Like Nu, it grows by attracting new members and upselling and cross-selling. It started as a loan company targeting students and young professionals, and this core, upwardly mobile segment is the key to unlocking major growth opportunities. This is a financially stable group that is getting its feet wet in finance, and they're drawn toward SoFi's digital channels and easy-to-use interface. Ninety percent of SoFi's deposits come from direct deposit, indicating a steady revenue stream from a solid consumer base. Although SoFi has its roots in lending, it has successfully pivoted to offer a complete financial services platform, and it's benefiting from that shift in multiple ways. It takes the pressure off the lending segment to perform, and that was an issue last year as defaults were rising with higher interest rates. The expanded effort boosts the cross-selling strategy, leading to higher engagement and sales. The financial services segment is generating high growth, with a 101% increase in sales year over year in the first quarter, and it's a low-cost, fee-based business that is also boosting the bottom line. Contribution margin for the financial services segment increased 299% over last year in the first quarter. Altogether, SoFi has a booming business. Adjusted net revenue growth accelerated to 33% year over year in the first quarter, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.06, up from $0.02 last year. SoFi has an incredible future ahead, and smart investors should consider buying shares now. Before you buy stock in Nu Holdings, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nu Holdings wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,702!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $870,207!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 988% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Jennifer Saibil has positions in Nu Holdings and SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Here Are My Top 2 Growth Stocks to Buy Now was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Brazil Fiscal Package Weighs In on Nu Holdings (NU)
We recently published a list of . Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) is one of the worst-performing stocks on Thursday. Nu Holdings declined by 5.4 percent at intraday trading on Thursday at $12.07 apiece as investor sentiment was dampened by uncertainties in Brazil's new fiscal package. The plan, which includes slapping higher taxes on financial firms, heavily weighed on investor sentiment, including Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU). While the bill remains under scrutiny by the Congress, the measure would require the financial sector to pay higher duties on their net profits if it passes into law. According to the Brazilian government, the overall measure is expected to generate R$40 billion annually. A wide angle shot of a team of bankers and financial advisors evaluating an investment portfolio on a touchscreen monitor. In the first quarter of the year, Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) grew its net income by 74 percent to $557.2 million from the $378.8 million in the same period last year. Revenues rose by 40 percent to $3.2 billion driven by a 62 percent expansion in the interest-earning portfolio. 'In Brazil, nearly 30 percent of adults consider Nu their primary bank, confirming significant market share gains and value delivery. With disciplined boldness, we're capitalizing on vast growth opportunities by responsibly expanding, strategically reinvesting, and scaling our proven flywheel model,' said Nubank CEO David Velez. 'We are confident that by continuously enhancing our offerings and market position, Nubank will capitalize on the long runway of growth ahead of us and deliver enduring value to both customers and shareholders,' he added. While we acknowledge the potential of NU as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
4 Industries That Don't Get Warren Buffett's Money
Warren Buffett isn't called the 'Oracle of Omaha' for nothing. With a net worth of around $158 billion, he's the world's most prominent and lucrative investor, thanks to his expert timing and knack for predicting the best buys. Though Buffett has announced his plans to retire at the end of 2025 (at age 95!), his impact on investment strategy is simply unmatched. Read Next: For You: With that in mind, is there anything he won't invest in? Actually, yes. Buffett instinctively knows when to hedge his bets, and if you like to follow his financial advice with your own investments, take a look below at the following industries that he doesn't tend to give his money. Buffett is well known for avoiding investing in emerging technologies. For example, he called Bitcoin 'a mirage' and warned investors to stay away. However, though he has expressed skepticism about cryptocurrencies, Berkshire Hathaway has invested in the Brazilian digital banking company Nu Holdings, which offers a cryptocurrency platform including Bitcoin, so technically the company does benefit indirectly from the cryptocurrency market. Buffett not understanding tech has served him well in the long run, as he seeks to invest in companies that have a significant amount of certainty. This often reduces his risk because he doesn't rely on other people's opinions. He simply trusts his gut when predicting future earnings and the value of each business he puts his money into. Good To Know: Buffett isn't impressed when it comes to putting money into precious metals. As with his views on tech, it seems that he doesn't see enough certain value in gold to risk investing in it and has remained one of its biggest skeptics. Despite the fact that Berkshire Hathaway did make a surprising foray into gold mining in 2020, it was short-lived and has since gone its separate ways, no doubt due to Buffett's opinion on the matter. Buffett wrote, 'No one is an investor in gold: there are only speculators in the metal.' According to him, there's essentially too much guesswork in predicting gold's future value when compared to other commodities that can earn an investor immediate income. Simply put, he believes that investors in gold might get a store of value, however, investors in productive assets are gaining more in dividends over the years. Berkshire Hathaway has invested in airlines in the past. For example, it purchased $10 billion worth of stock in big names like Delta, American, United and Southwest Airlines, but sold these stakes just four years later in 2020. This was largely due to the impact of the pandemic and was likely completely supported by Buffett, as that sector has been one of his biggest criticisms, and he currently has no shares in airlines in 2025. It is important to note that this opinion was probably formed in 1989 when Buffett and second-in-command at Berkshire, Charlie Munger, planned to invest $358 million in US Airways. Though it sounded like a sweet deal at the time, Buffett learned that US Airways just couldn't build the revenue it needed. This was because US Airways incurred low-end costs equaling 12 cents per passenger mile, but then newcomer Southwest Airlines only racked up 8 cents per passenger mile. It wasn't an entirely disastrous attempt for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, as he was able to dump the stock and still make a profit. But for the most part, he never liked the thought of investing in that industry again. We see so many TV shows and movies about Texas oil barons striking it rich in every way possible, to the point that investing in energy seems like the best idea in the world. Six years ago, Buffett made the same mistake when he disastrously placed a stake in Conoco Phillips. According to Eric Fontinelle of Yahoo! Finance, Buffett's rationale was likely that oil prices would keep rising. 'Since crude oil prices were well over $100 a barrel at the time, oil company stocks were way up,' Fontinelle wrote. 'However, this turned out to be a bad investment.' This time, it wasn't really that Buffett picked the wrong stock, but the wrong price. Berkshire Hathaway invested when the price was too high, meaning the company lost several billion dollars. The bottom line is that you should take caution with emotion when it comes to investing. As Buffett has said, 'When investing, pessimism is your friend, euphoria the enemy.' Even though Buffett doesn't jump on industries like technology, he doesn't shy away completely from the trendy and new. While he has invested in innovative products, it seems Buffett values certainty over excitement to this day. Paul Sisolak contributed to the reporting for this article. More From GOBankingRates 7 Things You'll Be Happy You Downsized in Retirement The New Retirement Problem Boomers Are Facing This article originally appeared on 4 Industries That Don't Get Warren Buffett's Money Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Warren Buffett Just Sold 1 Stock Up 196% Over the Past 3 Years and Piled Into Another Stock Down 25%. What Is He Thinking?
Berkshire Hathaway continues to build up an enormous cash position. Nu has massive opportunities, but there's risk in Latin America right now. By contrast, Constellation Brands offers stability in a volatile market. 10 stocks we like better than Constellation Brands › Warren Buffett and his team at Berkshire Hathaway continued their streak of selling more stocks than they bought in the 2025 first quarter, building up the company's cash pile to more than $347 billion. They sold eight stocks, including closing two positions. One of those was the struggling Citibank and the other was Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU), a soaring growth stock that's up 196% over the past three years. However, they still found seven stocks worthy of buying in the quarter, although they didn't start any new positions. Of particular interest was ramping up their position in Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), which is down 25% over the past three years. This could look like a value trap to the amateur investor, but Buffett clearly sees it as a buying opportunity. Let's see why Buffett might be thinking that it's time to sell Nu, a high-growth stock, and buy Constellation Brands, which is down in the dumps. Buffett is the classic contrarian investor, meaning he goes against what the rest of the market is doing. But he employs the classic investing method of buying low and selling high. He has explained many times over the years that it doesn't make much sense to buy stocks at highs or sell them at lows. He looks to buy when everyone else is selling, and prices are down, and he aims to sell when the market is enthusiastic, and prices are high. His most famous quote about this encapsulates this idea: "We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." Berkshire Hathaway invested in Nu, a digital bank, in a funding round just before its initial public offering in 2021, and it's done very well with this investment. However, it's not the holding company's typical stock pick. Buffett doesn't usually invest in young growth stocks, and he's not a big fan of technology. Nu still has massive growth opportunities. It's proven extremely popular in its headquarters of Brazil, where it already has 59% of the population as members and continues to grow at a high rate, and it's just getting started in Mexico and Colombia. It's highly profitable and consistently reports strong growth. What might be motivating Buffett to sell right now is the risk. Brazil has a high inflation rate, and Nu is feeling that right now it has increased provisions for losses and higher interest expenses. That, along with building out its business in Mexico and Colombia, is putting pressure on its margins. Being a proponent of the buy low, sell high philosophy, which underpins most successful investing, Buffett and his team might see this as an opportune time to move on to stable stocks that are more in line with their value approach to investing. Considering the deeper investment in Constellation Brands, as well as the other stocks Berkshire Hathaway extended its position in, there might be other factors at play, too. Buffett doesn't usually explain why he buys or sells stocks, and on rare occasions, he'll praise what he likes about a particular stock. But he freely gives advice about general investing, and that can give some clues about his own trades. He often talks about well-established businesses and strong brand names, and the investment in Constellation Brands, as well as the pullback from Nu, make sense if you understand what Buffett prizes. Constellation Brands makes alcoholic drinks under well-known labels like Corona beer and Casa Noble tequila. These are products that are always in demand, and the established brand names create a competitive advantage. Constellation Brands has reported lackluster growth over the past few years, but Buffett has his eye on the long term. He might also be considering the current uncertain economy and volatile market. It's more important in these times to hold onto secure stocks that can weather stormy seas. It also pays a growing dividend that yields 2.2% at the current price. Buffett loves dividends because they imply financial strength, stability, and a commitment to shareholders. On top of that, Constellation Brands stock looks cheap at today's price. It trades at a forward, 1-year P/E ratio of 13 and a price-to-cash flow ratio of 17, which is an attractive valuation. Constellation Brands stock likely won't appeal to the growth investor, but there would be long-term upside at the current price, and it offers the stability that features in most of Buffett's stocks. Before you buy stock in Constellation Brands, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Constellation Brands wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Jennifer Saibil has positions in Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Constellation Brands and Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Warren Buffett Just Sold 1 Stock Up 196% Over the Past 3 Years and Piled Into Another Stock Down 25%. What Is He Thinking? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
