Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly results after the markets close on Wednesday. The consensus forecast is $0.06 in earnings per share (EPS) on $292.86 million in revenue. In the first quarter of last year, the payments company reported EPS of $0.05 and $203.78 million in revenue.
Overall, the firm’s 2017 results set the stage for strong momentum in 2018. Three focus areas will drive its strategy and investment this year: omnichannel commerce, financial services and current international markets. These areas provide meaningful value to sellers and individuals and significantly increase the addressable market opportunity for Square.
In its most recent quarter, gross payment volume increased 31% year over year to $17.9 billion. Also, subscription and services-based revenue increased 96% to $79 million, an acceleration from year-over-year growth of 84% in the third quarter of 2017.
At that time, analysts had very mixed views, but they all raised their price targets. And since then the new consensus target has been rising as more analyst calls come out ahead of the report.
Excluding Wednesday’s move, Square had vastly outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up 159% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock was up 39%.
A few analysts weighed in on Square ahead of the earnings report:
- KeyCorp has an Overweight rating with a $55 price target.
- Nomura has a Buy rating with a $64 price target.
- Buckingham Research has a Buy rating and a $55 price target.
- Evercore ISI has an Outperform rating with a $67 target.
- Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating with a $57 price target.
- Craig Hallum has a Sell rating and a $37 price target.
Shares of Square were last seen up 1.5% at $48.98, with a consensus analyst price target of $49.39 and a 52-week range of $18.08 to $58.46.
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