Nu Holdings Ltd., the Brazilian digital banking giant known to its 139 million customers as Nubank, posted the first $1 billion-plus quarterly profit in its 13-year history on Thursday, sending shares surging in after-hours trading and cementing its status as Latin America's largest fintech company.

The company reported second-quarter net income of roughly $1.06 billion to $1.1 billion, up 49% year-over-year on a currency-neutral basis and comfortably ahead of Wall Street's roughly $967 million consensus estimate, according to the company's official earnings release. Revenue climbed 39% year-over-year to $5.88 billion, while earnings per share of $0.22 beat the $0.20 analysts had penciled in.

Growth across three countries

Nu's customer base grew to 139 million across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia — 118 million in its home market of Brazil, more than 16 million in Mexico, where the company says it has become the largest digital bank and recently reached break-even, and over 5 million in Colombia. The company's activity rate, a measure of how many customers actively use their accounts, hit 83.5%. Total deposits reached $45.3 billion, up 18% year-over-year, while its credit portfolio grew 37% to $39.4 billion. Risk-adjusted net interest margin hit a record 12.4%, up nearly 3 percentage points from the prior quarter, and return on equity reached 33%.

THIS IS NO LONGER A HYPOTHESIS, AND WE ARE NOW GENERATING MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS IN QUARTERLY NET INCOME. — David Vélez, Nu Holdings founder and CEO

Vélez's comment, highlighted in Yahoo Finance's coverage of the earnings beat, reflects a milestone the company has been chasing since its 2021 New York Stock Exchange listing. The board also authorized a $1 billion share buyback program and pointed to the recent acquisition of Banco Porto Real in Brazil as part of its next growth phase.

Shares of Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) rose about 2.7% in Thursday's regular session to close at $13.93, then jumped as much as 11.6% in after-hours and pre-market trading Friday, touching the $15.20 range, according to a regulatory filing summary tracking the stock's reaction. The move came against a backdrop of record highs on the S&P 500 and easing expectations for further interest rate hikes.

What's next: investors will be watching whether Nu's newly profitable Mexico operation and the fresh $1 billion buyback authorization can sustain the momentum into the third quarter, with more detail expected on the company's investor call following the earnings release.