The headlines are messy. Honestly, if you’ve been tracking the relationship between the Oracle of Omaha and the Latin American fintech darling, you’ve probably heard the rumors that he’s totally out. Or maybe you saw an old YouTube video claiming he’s "doubling down."
Let’s clear the air.
As of early 2026, the reality is a bit more nuanced than a simple "buy" or "sell" signal. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway did, in fact, exit its final shares of nu holdings buffett stock in the first quarter of 2025. It wasn't a sudden panic. It was a calculated, tiered exit that netted the conglomerate a cool $250 million in profit. For a guy who famously called Bitcoin "rat poison squared," owning a bank that offers crypto trading was always a bit of a weird fit.
But here’s the kicker: just because Buffett sold doesn't mean the company is failing.
The $250 Million Goodbye: Why Berkshire Walked
Buffett is 95 now. He’s stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2026, handing the keys to Greg Abel. When a legend prepares to retire, they clean house. They simplify.
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The exit from Nu Holdings (NU) coincided with a massive retreat from the financial sector. He didn't just dump the Brazilian neobank; he slashed Bank of America and exited Citigroup entirely. He’s hunkering down in short-term U.S. Treasuries—over $300 billion worth.
Performance vs. Portfolio Strategy
You might think he sold because the company was struggling. Wrong.
Nu Holdings has been a monster.
In their last reported quarter (Q4 2025), they posted earnings of $0.17 per share. That’s a beat. Revenue hit $1.92 billion, up over 36% year-over-year.
So why leave?
- Macro Jitters: The IMF lowered Latin America’s growth forecast to 2% for 2025. Buffett doesn't love uncertainty in emerging markets when he's trying to build a fortress of cash.
- The Crypto Connection: NuBank (the consumer brand) is very crypto-friendly. While Buffett’s "lieutenants" Todd Combs and Ted Weschler likely pushed for the initial $1 billion investment in 2021, the 95-year-old boss may have wanted to scrub the portfolio of anything "speculative" before he leaves.
- Profit Taking: He bought in around $9. He sold the last chunk around $11.83, but the stock has since soared toward $17. He missed the recent rally, but Buffett rarely cares about catching the absolute top.
Is Nu Holdings Still a "Buffett Stock" Without Buffett?
Even though the name is gone from the 13F filings, many investors still treat it like a classic Buffett play. Why? Because it has the "moat" he always talks about.
In Brazil, Nu is now the third-largest financial institution by customer count. They have over 118 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. That’s more than the population of most countries.
The efficiency is what’s truly scary for traditional banks. Nu’s cost to serve a customer is less than $1.00 per month. Traditional Brazilian banks? They’re spending way more to maintain those physical branches and old IT systems. Nu is basically a software company that happens to have a banking license.
The 2026 Forecast
If you’re looking at nu holdings buffett stock today, the valuation is... spicy.
It’s trading at a P/E ratio of about 32.
That’s not exactly "value investor" territory.
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However, analysts are still pounding the table. The consensus is a "Buy" with 17 buy ratings and zero sells. They expect EPS to hit $0.87 for the full year 2026. If they hit that, the current price in the $16-$17 range actually looks somewhat reasonable for a company growing revenue at 40% a year.
What Most People Miss: The Mexico Catalyst
Everyone talks about Brazil. Brazil is "mature" for Nu—they already have half the adult population there.
The real story for 2026 is Mexico.
Nu Mexico recently got the green light to operate as a full-fledged bank. This is huge. It means they can offer more than just credit cards; they can take deposits and offer a full suite of services to a country where a massive chunk of the population is still unbanked.
In Mexico, they reached 10 million customers late last year. Deposits there grew over 400% in a single year. That is the kind of hyper-growth that usually disappears once a company reaches Nu's size ($80 billion market cap), but they’re doing it.
Actionable Insights for Your Portfolio
Look, investing in a Latin American fintech isn't the same as buying Coca-Cola. It’s volatile. The Brazilian Real fluctuates against the Dollar, which can make the earnings look wonky even when the business is crushing it.
If you're thinking about following the ghost of Buffett into this stock, here is the move:
- Check the ROE: Nu’s Return on Equity is hovering around 29%. That’s elite. If that stays high, the stock price usually follows.
- Watch the NPLs: Non-performing loans (the people who don't pay their bills) were around 7% for the 90-day+ category recently. In a high-interest-rate environment, this is the number that can kill a bank.
- Dollar-Cost Average: Don't go all in at $17. The stock has a habit of swinging 20% on any macro news out of South America.
Buffett might be out, but the "Buffett-style" fundamentals—low costs, high barriers to entry, and massive scale—are still very much in the DNA of this company.
Next Steps for Investors:
Review the upcoming Q1 2026 earnings report to see if the Net Interest Margin (NIM) is holding steady despite currency volatility. If the efficiency ratio stays below 30%, the growth story remains intact regardless of who is (or isn't) in the 13F filing.