NU Q2 2026 - Preliminary Earnings Alert
Verdict
- Revenue beat: IFRS total revenue of $5,513.2m against $5,385.8m consensus, +2.4%, and up 50% on $3,668.5m a year ago.
- No per-share figure in the release, so the $0.1984 consensus has nothing to compare against. Net income was $1,061.1m, the first billion-dollar quarter, against $637.0m a year ago.
- No guidance given. Nu does not publish financial guidance and the release adds none.
- The one thing that matters: roughly two-fifths of the earnings growth is the tax line. Pre-tax profit rose 40.6% to $1,236.3m from $879.4m, but income tax expense fell to $175.2m from $242.4m — an effective rate of 14.2% against 27.6% — so net income rose 66.6%. The operating story is real; the headline growth rate is not all operating.
- Tone flag: the release leads on the Mexico launch, Croma and the NuFormer model, and buries a 35bp sequential rise in 90-plus-day NPLs to 6.9% under a 16bp improvement in the 15–90 leading indicator.
Consensus scorecard
| Metric / basis | Quartr actual | API Ninjas consensus | Beat/Miss | Beat/Miss % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (IFRS total revenue) | $5,513.2m | $5,385.8m | Beat +$127.4m | +2.4% |
| EPS | Not disclosed in the release | $0.1984 | Not comparable | — |
Key metrics
| Metric | Reported | Prior year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (managerial) | $5,875.7m | $3,772.3m | +39% FXN |
| Net income | $1,061.1m | $637.0m | +49% FXN |
| Customers | 138.9m | 122.7m | +13% |
| Monthly ARPAC | $17.1 | $12.5 | +22% FXN |
| Total credit portfolio | $39.4bn | $27.3bn | +37% FXN |
| Deposits | $45.3bn | $36.6bn | +18% FXN |
ROE closed at 33% against 28% a year ago, risk-adjusted NIM at 12.4% against 9.9%, and the efficiency ratio at 19.5% against 21.3%.
Guidance changes
No financial guidance change disclosed.
Quality of earnings
- The tax rate did much of the work. Income tax expense of $175.2m on $1,236.3m of pre-tax profit is a 14.2% effective rate, against $242.4m on $879.4m — 27.6% — a year ago. Pre-tax profit grew 40.6%; net income grew 66.6%.
- The managerial presentation flatters every line above net income. Managerial total revenue of $5,875.7m sits $362.4m above the IFRS $5,513.2m and managerial gross profit of $2,441.1m sits $94.6m above the IFRS $2,346.5m, with a $393.9m reclassification between pre-tax profit and tax that nets to zero at the bottom.
- The margin expansion is seasonal by management's own account. Cost of credit fell 9% sequentially to $1,690.8m, which is what lifted risk-adjusted NIM 290bps to 12.4% from 9.5%; the release attributes the improvement to the normal second-quarter fall in early delinquencies.
Gotchas & watch items
- 90-plus-day NPLs rose to 6.9% from 6.5% both sequentially and year on year, on a credit book that grew 37%, while management describes "intentional expansions into higher-risk, higher-return segments."
- The efficiency ratio deteriorated to 19.5% from 17.6% in the first quarter, explained by real estate and marketing spend shifting out of Q1 rather than by lower costs elsewhere.
- Mexico deposits fell again, to $5.7bn, on what management calls deliberate deposit optimisation, leaving a 35% loan-to-deposit ratio in the market it has just declared its second core franchise.
- Managerial cost of credit of $1,690.8m exceeds the IFRS expected credit loss of $1,482.2m by $208.6m, so the provision the headline metrics are built on is not the one in the accounts.
Event: https://web.quartr.com/companies/11343/events/669376/overview Retrieved: 2026-08-13T21:53:00Z Comparison mode: maximal · Scorecard contract: v1 The release discloses no earnings per share and Quartr standardised financials carry none, so the EPS consensus is shown unmatched. The 22:00 UTC call had not been held when this was written.