Published: November 22, 2025
Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NU), the parent company of Brazilian digital bank Nubank, is heading into the weekend trading just below record levels after a powerful post‑earnings rally. The stock closed Friday, November 21, at $15.89, up 3.7% on the day, with more than 73 million shares changing hands as investors continued to digest the company’s blowout third‑quarter 2025 results. [1]
Year to date, NU is now up roughly 50%, while its 12‑month gain sits in the mid‑teens—comfortably ahead of many large financials and broader market benchmarks. [2]
NU stock price today: just shy of record territory
With U.S. markets closed for the weekend, NU’s latest trading snapshot reflects Friday’s session:
- Last close: $15.89
- Daily move: +$0.57 (+3.72%)
- Intraday range: $15.26 – $16.02
- Previous close: $15.32
- Volume: ~73.5 million vs. a three‑month average of ~42.4 million (around 70% higher than usual) [3]
Over the past year, NU has traded in a 52‑week range of $9.01 to $16.55, with that top end also marking its all‑time high, set on November 11, 2025. [4]
From a performance standpoint:
- 1‑year price change: roughly 18–19% [5]
- YTD gain: a near‑50% rally according to multiple analytics services. [6]
Technically, NU is trading above both its 50‑day and 200‑day moving averages and remains close to its recent breakout zone. Some technical research providers, such as Barchart, currently flag the stock with a strong bullish bias based on trend and momentum indicators. [7]
What’s driving the NU rally? Record Q3 2025 earnings
The latest leg of NU’s advance has been fueled by record third‑quarter 2025 results, reported on November 13.
According to Nu’s earnings release and subsequent coverage:
- Q3 2025 revenue: about $4.2 billion, up 39% year‑on‑year, beating analyst expectations around $3.8 billion. [8]
- Net income:$783 million, also up 39% year‑on‑year (FX‑neutral) and ahead of consensus forecasts. [9]
- Return on equity (ROE): a record ~31%, underscoring the bank’s ability to scale profitably. [10]
- Customer base: up to 127 million clients across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with more than 4 million net adds in the quarter. [11]
- Credit portfolio: approximately $30.4 billion, up about 42% year‑on‑year. [12]
Crucially for a fast‑growing lender, credit quality looks stable to improving. In Brazil, 15–90 day delinquency sat near 4.2%, down from a year earlier, and the over‑90‑day rate of 6.8% improved from 7.2% in the prior year, though it ticked up slightly versus Q2 due to seasonal factors, according to management. [13]
The Q3 beat followed a strong Q2, where Nu delivered roughly 40% FX‑neutral revenue growth and a 42% increase in net income, signaling that the trend is not a one‑off but part of a multi‑quarter acceleration. [14]
Investors have also responded positively to management’s “AI‑first” strategy, highlighted in the Q3 earnings call, with the company emphasizing increased automation, better risk scoring and more personalized product offers driven by artificial intelligence. [15]
Beyond Latin America: US expansion plans on the table
Nu remains best known as the largest digital bank in Latin America—originally a Brazilian credit‑card disrupter that has since expanded into full‑service digital banking and lending. [16]
Strategically, the company is now looking beyond its home region:
- On September 30, 2025, Nubank filed for a U.S. national bank charter, a key step toward operating a bank in the United States. [17]
- Management has described the U.S. move as a long‑term expansion, not an immediate profit engine, but the filing underscores its ambition to become a global digital banking platform. [18]
Combined with its already massive footprint in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, the charter application reinforces the growth narrative that many investors are paying for: Nu as a scalable, software‑driven bank that can enter new markets with lower costs than incumbents.
How Wall Street views NU stock right now
Sell‑side sentiment on NU is broadly positive:
- Data from StockAnalysis shows a consensus “Buy” rating with an average 12‑month price target around $16.70, implying roughly 5% upside from Friday’s close. [19]
- A recent institutional‑ownership note highlighted that Sagil Capital LLP opened a new position of just over 1.0 million NU shares, making it the firm’s sixth‑largest holding, and pointed to a consensus target closer to $17.44 and a “Moderate Buy” stance. [20]
- Investing.com’s analyst compilation places the average target nearer $18.10, with a high estimate of $22 and an overall “Buy” recommendation from the group it tracks. [21]
In the financial‑media ecosystem, NU continues to attract bullish commentary:
- A recent Seeking Alpha deep dive argued that, given Nu’s unit economics and growth runway, annualized returns north of 30% through 2030 could be possible in a favorable scenario. [22]
- On November 22, a Motley Fool article titled along the lines of “3 reasons to buy NU stock like there’s no tomorrow” framed Nubank as a “hyper‑growth” play still early in its penetration of Latin America’s underbanked population. [23]
Of course, these views are projections, not guarantees—but they illustrate why the market has been willing to assign NU a premium valuation.
NU valuation check: priced for perfection?
With the stock near all‑time highs and earnings ramping quickly, valuation is the big question for today’s buyers.
Key current metrics (approximate, based on latest data):
- Price / Earnings (trailing): around 30–31x
- Price / Book: roughly 7.3x
- Price / Sales (trailing): about 12x
- Return on Equity: ~27–28% [24]
That’s rich compared with traditional banks (many trade in the low‑double‑digit P/E range and low single‑digit P/B), but not unusual for a high‑growth fintech with strong profitability.
Interestingly, valuation services don’t all agree on whether NU is expensive or still attractive:
- One Excess Returns model from Simply Wall St estimates NU’s intrinsic value at about $10.15 per share, suggesting the stock trades at a roughly 55–60% premium and flags it as “overvalued” on that basis. [25]
- A “narrative fair value” model from the same platform recently pegged fair value at $17.46, about 9% above a recent close near $15.82, framing NU as moderately undervalued if optimistic growth assumptions play out. [26]
The takeaway: NU is clearly priced for continued rapid growth. If revenue expansion and high ROE persist, today’s multiples could be justified; if growth slows more sharply than expected, the downside from multiple compression could be significant.
Short interest, insider moves and Buffett’s exit
Rising—but still modest—short interest
Short sellers have been nibbling at NU, though positioning remains moderate:
- A recent Benzinga update noted that short interest has risen about 16% since the prior report, to roughly 118.9 million shares, representing about 3.2% of the float and around four days to cover based on average volume. [27]
For context, 3% of float is far from extreme; it’s more a sign that some investors see valuation or macro risk than a sign of outright market pessimism.
CEO share sale
In August 2025, Nu’s co‑founder and CEO David Vélez sold 33 million Class A shares via an entity called Rua California Ltd. According to the company, the sale was for personal asset‑planning reasons, represented roughly 3.5% of his personal stake, and only about 0.7% of shares outstanding. [28]
Insider selling on this scale naturally grabs headlines, but the fact that it left Vélez with the vast majority of his position—and that Nu remains founder‑led—has helped soften investor concern so far.
Warren Buffett is out of NU
Another narrative that continues to shadow the stock is Warren Buffett’s exit:
- Berkshire Hathaway first invested in Nu ahead of its 2021 IPO and at one point held roughly 40 million shares. [29]
- Regulatory filings show that by Q1 2025, Berkshire had completely exited its Nu position, alongside a broader pullback from bank stocks and other financials. [30]
Buffett’s departure understandably raised eyebrows. Yet since those sales, NU’s fundamentals and share price have continued to improve, suggesting many investors now see the “Buffett overhang” as old news rather than a fresh red flag.
Key risks investors should watch
Despite the upbeat story, NU stock is not without meaningful risks—something especially relevant when shares trade near their highs.
1. Macro and credit risk in emerging markets
Nu is heavily exposed to Brazil and, increasingly, Mexico and Colombia. Economic slowdowns, rising unemployment or sharp interest‑rate swings in those markets could pressure loan growth and credit quality. While delinquency data in Brazil has generally improved year‑on‑year, it remains elevated versus mature‑market banks. [31]
2. Regulatory and competitive pressure
Nu operates in heavily regulated sectors under multiple central banks and financial watchdogs. As its market share grows—and as it pushes into the U.S. via a bank‑charter application—regulation and compliance costs could rise. At the same time, competition from entrenched banks (like Itaú) and other fintechs is intense. [32]
3. Valuation risk
With P/E around 30x and P/B well above 7x, even a modest slowdown in growth or profitability could prompt a valuation reset. High‑multiple financial stocks can be particularly sensitive to sentiment shifts when the macro backdrop turns. [33]
4. Execution on AI and expansion
Nu’s “AI‑first” pitch and its U.S. ambitions are part of what investors are buying. If technology investments don’t translate into better underwriting, higher engagement or lower costs—or if the U.S. expansion underdelivers—market expectations may need to be revised downward. [34]
NU stock today: buy, hold, or watchlist?
Whether NU is attractive today, November 22, 2025, depends largely on your investment style and risk tolerance:
- Growth‑oriented investors may see NU as a rare combination of:
- rapid top‑line expansion,
- strong profitability metrics (ROE ~30%), and
- a massive addressable market of under‑banked consumers in Latin America and beyond. [35]
- Value or income‑focused investors might be more cautious. NU:
- pays no dividend,
- trades at premium multiples to traditional banks, and
- still carries emerging‑market and regulatory risk that can lead to volatility. [36]
- Short‑term traders may focus on:
- the stock’s proximity to its all‑time high at $16.55,
- rising but still modest short interest, and
- above‑average volume following earnings—conditions that can support both breakouts and sharp pullbacks. [37]
For now, NU looks like a high‑quality, high‑expectations growth story: execution has been excellent, but the bar is also set high. Anyone considering a position should carefully weigh:
- how much emerging‑market exposure they want,
- how comfortable they are with a premium fintech valuation, and
- whether they believe Nu can sustain its current pace of customer growth and profitability.
As always, this article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Investors should do their own research and, if needed, consult a licensed financial adviser before making decisions.
Key takeaways for NU stock on November 22, 2025
- NU closed Friday at $15.89, up 3.7%, with volume far above average. [38]
- The rally is underpinned by record Q3 2025 results: $4.2B in revenue, $783M in net income and ROE around 31%. [39]
- The stock is near its all‑time high of $16.55 and up roughly 50% year‑to‑date. [40]
- Analysts broadly rate NU a “Buy”, with average price targets in the mid‑to‑high teens, implying modest to mid‑teens upside over 12 months. [41]
- Valuation is premium, short interest is rising but manageable, and Buffett’s exit from the stock is already in the rear‑view mirror. [42]
References
1. finance.yahoo.com, 2. simplywall.st, 3. finance.yahoo.com, 4. www.tradingview.com, 5. www.tradingview.com, 6. simplywall.st, 7. www.barchart.com, 8. www.reuters.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. www.stocktitan.net, 15. www.investing.com, 16. en.wikipedia.org, 17. www.reuters.com, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. stockanalysis.com, 20. www.marketbeat.com, 21. www.investing.com, 22. seekingalpha.com, 23. www.fool.com, 24. www.investing.com, 25. simplywall.st, 26. simplywall.st, 27. www.benzinga.com, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. stockcircle.com, 30. www.reuters.com, 31. www.reuters.com, 32. www.reuters.com, 33. fullratio.com, 34. www.investing.com, 35. www.reuters.com, 36. stockanalysis.com, 37. finance.yahoo.com, 38. finance.yahoo.com, 39. www.reuters.com, 40. www.tradingview.com, 41. stockanalysis.com, 42. fullratio.com
