Services

What to Expect When Square Reports After the Close

Chris Lange

Published: February 27, 2019 11:00 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 10:48 am

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. Refinitiv consensus estimates call for $0.14 in earnings per share (EPS) and $454.1 million in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.08 and $282.66 million in revenue.

In its most recent quarter, Square issued guidance calling for EPS in the range of $0.12 to $0.13 and adjusted revenue between $446 million and $451 million for the fourth quarter.

Also worth mentioning was that despite having strong earnings last quarter, the stock still dropped by about 8% in response to the report. This was the result of the stock running about 125% in the past 52 weeks at that point.

While Square’s stock currently is only up 75% in the past 52 weeks, there is always the potential that investors could see earnings as an opportunity for profit taking.

During the third quarter, gross payment volume (GPV) was $22.5 billion, up 29% year over year. The company continued to see strength from larger sellers. GPV from this group grew 41% year over year and accounted for 52% of total GPV, up from 48% in the third quarter of 2017.

In terms of the third-quarter revenue breakdown, transaction-based revenue was $655 million, up 29% year over year, and subscription and services-based revenue was $166 million, an increase of 155%. Hardware, making up the smallest segment, saw its revenue grow 74% to $18 million.

A few analysts weighed in on Square ahead of the report:

• Raymond James has an Underperform rating.
• Nomura has a Buy rating with a $110 price target.
• Wolfe Research has an Outperform rating.
• Piper Jaffray has a Neutral rating.
• Tigress Financial has a Buy rating.

Shares of Square were last seen trading at $78.08, in a 52-week range of $43.72 to $101.15. The consensus price target is $78.39.