#7 - Square (NYSE:SQ)
Another factor driving the growth of e-commerce is the growth of financial technology (fintech) companies that give businesses and consumers a different way to accept and receive digital payments. This brings us to Square (NYSE: SQ).
For those unfamiliar with Square it’s a financial service and mobile payment platform that offers a suite of business management tools. This includes the popular point-of-sale system that makes it easy for brick-and-mortar businesses to accept digital payments. The company has expanded to the consumer side with its CashApp that facilitates peer-to-peer lending and offers some additional e-commerce features.
And earlier in 2021, Square launched Square Banking that allows it to offer traditional banking products that could allow it, in theory, eliminate the need for Square customers to have a separate bank account.
Several analysts have lowered their price target for SQ stock since the company’s recent earnings report. However, the long-term outlook for the stock remains favorable with analysts giving the stock an upside of more than 32% from its current level.
About Block
Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.
Read More - Current Price
- $92.26
- Consensus Rating
- Moderate Buy
- Ratings Breakdown
- 24 Buy Ratings, 6 Hold Ratings, 1 Sell Ratings.
- Consensus Price Target
- $91.18 (1.2% Downside)
As earnings season is showing us, many retailers are acknowledging that the supply chain difficulties aren’t going away anytime soon. And the effects will be felt well into 2022. At the same time, e-commerce transactions will only continue to make up a higher percentage of retail sales.
That’s creating a dynamic of two dynamic forces. And that has the potential to make the companies in this presentation more attractive as investors seek to find winners in a sector that’s too big to ignore.
If you’re looking for broader exposure to e-commerce stocks you may want to consider investing in an e-commerce exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These funds give you exposure to a range of companies in a broad spectrum of industries. Some strong performers in 2020 include the Amplify Online Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: IBUY), the ProShares Online Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: ONLN), and the Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF (NASDAQ: PNQI).
MarketBeat All Access subscribers can track these and other ETFs with our proprietary ETF Screener tool.
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