What happened
Nu Holdings (NU 1.27%) was dropping fast on Wednesday, as the stock price was down as much as 8.2% in the morning session. By 2 p.m. ET, it was down about 7% to $4.75 per share.
It was a bad day all around as the major indexes were all down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 1.4%, the S&P 500 down 1.4%, and the Nasdaq dropping 1.8% as of 2 p.m.
So what
The overall market decline related to the unsettled U.S. elections was likely the main reason that Nu Holdings, a Brazil-based online bank, was falling today. Control of the Senate and House was still up in the air as of Wednesday afternoon, and the uncertainty spooked investors.
Another fact that may have hurt Nu was the subpar earnings report by Upstart Holdings, a fellow fintech that missed analysts' estimates and saw revenue tank on a sharp decrease in loans and a greater-than-anticipated loss per share.
NYSE: NU
Key Data Points
These factors may have weighed on all fintechs, but Nu Holdings, the holding company for Nubank, operates in a completely different market, Brazil, along with other Latin American markets. It actually had some good news on Wednesday that the market didn't recognize.
Now what
One positive development for Nu on Wednesday was an outperform rating by analysts at Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse initiated coverage of Nu Holdings with a $6.50 price target, which would be a 36% increase from current levels.
Also, Brazil's Economy Ministry came out with gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates for 2023 and set a range of 1.4% and 2.9%. This is within the range of previous estimates of roughly 2.5% GDP growth. This year, the economy is expected to finish with 2.7% growth in GDP.
Even the lower end of the GDP growth range is higher than the projected 1.1% GDP growth for the U.S. next year.
Nu Holdings has been growing rapidly as a disruptor in the Brazilian market with lower-cost digital banking services. It had record revenue in the second quarter and grew its customer base by 57% year over year last quarter.
Nu Holdings reports third-quarter earnings on Nov. 14, so investors will want to see if it continues that forward momentum.
