DLOThe top line kept doing cartwheels
dLocal’s first quarter was basically a “look, mom, we’re still growing” moment. Total payment volume crossed $14 billion for the first time, up 73% year over year, which is the kind of number that makes a fintech slide deck smile. Even better, this was the company’s sixth straight quarter of 50%+ TPV growth — not exactly the profile of a business running out of steam.
Profitability didn’t sit this one out
Gross profit reached a record $119 million, up 40% from a year ago. Operating profit came in at $57 million excluding prior-years tax adjustments, while net income was $52 million on the same basis. In plain English: dLocal isn’t just pushing more money through the pipes, it’s still turning a decent chunk of that into actual earnings.
The not-so-fun part: costs
Management said higher OPEX is still coming through from the 2025 carry-over, so don’t expect the margin fairy to fix everything overnight. The company thinks operating leverage should improve in the second half of 2026, which is investor-speak for “hang tight, the kitchen is still heating up.”
- Adjusted free cash flow was $15 million
- That was helped by temporary working capital effects
- Management expects those effects to revert
Why investors should care
dLocal is showing the two things that matter most for a fast-growing payments name: volume growth that’s still absurdly strong and profits that are holding together. The catch is that expenses aren’t fully cooperating yet, so the stock may continue trading on how believable that 2H26 margin improvement story really is.
Big picture: dLocal still looks like a growth story with real earnings behind it — but now the market gets to obsess over whether the next leg is more scale, or just more spending before scale shows up.