BBVA vs NU: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: BBVA is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. BBVA and NU share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined BBVA and NU exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) is a global financial group headquartered in Bilbao and Madrid, Spain, and one of the largest banks in the euro zone by market value. It operates retail and commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and asset management across several geographies, but unlike most European peers the bulk of its earnings comes from emerging markets. Its main reporting areas are Spain, Mexico, Turkey (through its Garanti BBVA subsidiary), and South America, with a smaller Rest of Business unit. Mexico is the single largest profit contributor, typically generating a larger share of group net profit than the home market, which is why BBVA is often described as a Spanish bank with a Mexican engine. Like any bank it makes money mainly from net interest income (the spread between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits) plus fees and commissions from cards, payments, asset management, and investment banking.

Full BBVA guide

Nu Holdings is the parent of Nubank, a digital bank built entirely around a mobile app rather than branches. It earns money the way a bank does: net interest income from credit cards and personal loans, plus fees and interchange, increasingly funded by a large, low-cost deposit base. By March 2026 deposits had grown roughly 29% year over year to nearly $42 billion and the loan book had passed $30 billion, while the company kept its cost structure unusually lean, reporting an efficiency ratio under 18%. Growth comes from two levers stacked together: signing up new customers (about 139 million globally by mid-2026, after roughly 4 million more were added in Q2, with Brazil past ~115 million, Mexico past ~15 million, and Colombia approaching ~5 million as of early 2026) and raising how much each customer transacts and borrows over time. Monthly average revenue per active customer reached about $17 in Q2 2026, roughly double its 2022 level.

Full NU guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• BBVA drivers: Mexico as the profit engine; Record profitability and high return on equity.
• NU drivers: Customer growth still compounding; Monetizing the existing base.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: BBVA's biggest distinguishing risk is geographic concentration in emerging markets: with Mexico, Turkey, and South America driving much of group profit, reported euro earnings are highly sensitive to the Mexican peso and Turkish lira, which can weaken sharply and erode results even when local-currency performance is strong. For NU, the dominant risk is the consumer credit cycle.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick BBVA if you believe its drivers more; NU if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the BBVA and NU guides.

BBVA. At about 26 dollars per ADR, BBVA trades near 12x trailing and under 10x forward earnings, a discount to many US banks that reflects the market's caution toward its emerging-market exposure, even though its return on tangible equity is well above most western European peers. Q3 2026 results are scheduled for October 29, 2026, with consensus near 0.60 dollars per ADR on revenue of about 10.7 billion. Because the ADR is priced in dollars while results are reported in euros and much of the profit is earned in pesos and lira, currency moves are a material driver of the figures above.

NU. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. At about 20 times trailing and 13 times forward earnings, NU trades at a premium to traditional banks on a trailing basis but at a lower forward multiple than in mid-2026, because earnings grew while the stock fell about 13.5% this year. The valuation still embeds continued customer growth and contained credit losses; for Q3 2026, due November 12, analysts look for EPS of about $0.23.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): BBVA shows revenue (ttm) ~EUR 34 billion (latest quarter up ~20% year over year), net income (ttm) ~EUR 10.7 billion (earnings growth ~15% year over year), net profit (q2 2026) ~EUR 3.06 billion (EPS $0.60 vs $0.59 estimate), return on tangible equity ~19% in FY2025, ~22% in Q1 2026; NU shows revenue (last four quarters) ~$19.3 billion (Q2 2026 alone ~$5.5 billion), customers ~139 million across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, net income (ttm) ~$3.6 billion; Q2 2026 ~$1.06 billion, profit margin ~43%.

BBVA and NU are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined BBVA and NU exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.