Nu Holdings Ltd. NU is putting artificial intelligence deeper into its operating model, with NuFormer central to underwriting, customer service and growth. The company said the model draws on more than a decade of transaction history across over 100 million customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, giving it a large base of financial behavior data.
NuFormer has become faster and cheaper to run. Its latest generation quadrupled its context length, training speed and inference speed while lowering production costs. The model is used for credit cards in Brazil and Mexico and unsecured lending in Brazil, while SME credit cards and Colombian cards are being tested.
The push matters because credit remains a major earnings driver. NU ended the second quarter of 2026 with a $39.4 billion credit portfolio, up 37% year over year. Risk-adjusted net interest margin rose to 12.4% from 9.5% in the first quarter, helped by stronger credit income and a lower cost of credit.
AI is also moving beyond underwriting. Generative AI agents now handle more than 60% of customer support conversations in Brazil, with ratings at or above human levels. NuFormer is also being used to target growth campaigns, with more than 100 campaigns already run using the platform.
The financial backdrop gives NU room to invest. Second-quarter 2026 gross revenues reached $5.9 billion, up 39% year over year, while net income hit $1.1 billion. The company served 139 million customers, ARPAC reached $17 and the efficiency ratio stood at 19.5%, showing that AI investment is being layered onto a scaled platform.
How Are Itau Unibanco & MercadoLibre Compete?
Itau Unibanco ITUB, a major Brazilian banking rival to Nu Holdings, is embedding generative AI across customer service, business banking and payments. In June 2026, Itau Unibanco partnered with Google to expand Gemini access and AI training for SMEs. By late July 2026, its ia.i assistant was already available to approximately 300,000 Superapp users.
MercadoLibre MELI, via its Mercado Pago platform, competes with Nu Holdings across Latin American payments, credit and digital financial services. The company uses AI and machine learning in credit scoring, customer service, advertising and marketplace search. In second-quarter 2026, MELI completed the rollout of an AI powered search architecture across its five largest sites. In second-quarter 2026, Mercado Pago reached 88 million monthly active users.
NU’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of NU have gained 29.4% in the past three months, outperforming the broader industry and the S&P 500 Index.
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From a valuation standpoint, NU trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38X, well above the industry’s 11.55X. It carries a Value Score D.
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NU’s estimates have increased 3 cents over the past month. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for full-year 2026 EPS is pegged at 86 cents.
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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.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).