The Smartest Bank Stocks to Buy With $100 Right Now

Key Points

• SoFi is adding high-value services to its platform that target its specific market.

• Nu is adding millions of customers quarterly, but it's still a small fish in a large sea of financial companies in Latin America.

• 10 stocks we like better than SoFi Technologies ›

Bank stocks as a category are generally high-value, low-growth stocks. They typically pay dividends, often with attractive yields, and they're reliable for long-term growth as they drive the economy.

However, if you're looking for great bank stocks, I'm going to turn the tables here and present two quality candidates that are high-octane growth stocks with no dividends that are not for the risk-averse investor. If that fits your investing profile, and you have $100 to invest right now, SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) and Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) are two stocks you should take a look at.

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1. SoFi: The upcoming top-10 bank

SoFi was one of the legions of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that stormed the markets a few years ago before petering out to a trickle these days. It's one of the few that actually took off, becoming a real industry disruptor with loads of potential.

The bank is all online, with a multitude of easy-to-use services geared toward the novice user. Since it was created to be completely digital, and it's still small and growing, it has agility and flexibility that give it a leg up, in certain ways, over legacy banks.

It's attracting customers at a rapid pace, with a record 800,000 new accounts in 2025's first quarter, a 34% increase from the same period last year. The target market is young professionals who are getting their feet wet in finance, with good jobs and a long runway in increasing engagement and adoption of financial services. The company calls its growth strategy the financial services productivity loop, and it involves cross-selling and upselling more services to monetize its user base more effectively over time. That means adding new customers and impressing them enough to keep them, as well as launching new services to have a broad assortment of products and solutions. To appeal to this specific market, it's using some aggressive marketing techniques like naming sports arenas that are meaningful to these users and sponsoring events they appreciate.

More than that, it's rolling out services with the intent to deliver real value to its customers rather than simply mimicking what's already available through other banks. For example, it has offered access to initial public offerings (IPOs) usually only available to institutional investors, and it recently announced that it will offer users instant global remittances through a blockchain. Last week, it announced access to private markets through several partnerships.

SoFi's core segment is lending, and as interest rates have started to come down, it has been boasting strong revenue gains and profit growth, as well as improving credit metrics. But it's focusing on expanding its platform, specifically in the financial services segment, which is low cost and fee based. It's probably only a matter of time until this segment becomes its largest, and scale is resulting in increasing net income. Chief Executive Officer Anthony Noto envisions SoFi becoming a top-10 bank with a huge, long-term opportunity.

2. Nu: The Latin American banking upstart

Nu is similar to SoFi, but it operates in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. It's growing fast, adding millions of new customers quarterly, but it has a way to go.

The bank added more than 4.3 million new accounts in 2025's Q1 for a total of 118.6 million. The vast majority, 104.3 million, are in the company's home market of Brazil, where more than half of the adult population has a Nu account. Although it's still adding millions of new customers there, it's growing even faster in Mexico and Colombia where it's still a small presence. It only recently launched savings accounts in these countries, and it was recently approved for a bank charter in Mexico, making it the first all-digital bank to get one.

Customers are highly engaged, and the company is reporting strong growth metrics. Revenue increased 40% year over year in 2025's Q1, and net income was up 74% to $557.2 million. Although sales growth decelerated in the quarter, Nu has been demonstrating admirable performance considering the high inflation and overall volatile macroeconomy in Brazil.

Deposits increased 48% over last year in the quarter, and loan originations were up 64%, but net interest margin (NIM) was down from 19.5% last year to 17.5% this year. Management cites its heavy investments in expanding the business in Mexico and Colombia as pressuring the margin. However, even though those two regions aren't yet profitable, the Brazil business is profitable enough on its own to keep earnings positive and allow for newer growth areas.

Nu has a small share of the financial services system in its regions, specifically in Mexico, but it's growing quickly, and there's a tremendous opportunity to capture more. Now is an excellent time to get in as it keeps expanding.

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Jennifer Saibil has positions in Nu Holdings and SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.