Block (SQ) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Block, Inc. is the parent company to a host of digital financial solutions including Square. The company was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey (also founded Twitter) and Jim McKelvey as a solution to a problem faced by McKelvey. Mr. McKelvey was unable to complete a transaction because he was unable to accept credit cards and that provided inspiration for Mr. Dorsey. The firm was founded in St. Louis but now has no official headquarters, instead choosing to do most work remotely or from one of several key hubs. That decision was made in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when it became clear telecommuting was a solution that worked.

The original Square app provides a multitude of payment and POS solutions that include hardware and software. The hardware includes the iconic Square card mag-stripe reader that can be plugged into any tablet or smartphone as well as many other solutions. The software enables sellers to turn their smart devices into POS on a temporary or permanent/dedicated basis.

The company went public in 2015 when it IPOd on the NASDAQ stock exchange and then later decided to change its name to Block to better represent the business. Today, Block, Inc. operates as a network of businesses that are working together to expand access to the economy. The core brands are Square, CashApp, AfterPay, Weebly, Tidal, Spiral, and TBD.

The Square brand encompasses all the core business including but not limited to hardware and its related software. The CashApp business is a money transfer solution that is working to make money more available and universally acceptable. Afterpay is a buy-now-pay-later service. Weebly is an eCommerce and web hosting service for small and medium-sized businesses. Tidal is a platform for musicians and artists to connect with fans and monetize their brands. Spiral is the firm's cryptocurrency division and TBD is a division focused on crypto, specifically building a crypto platform.

Block, Inc. stunned the market in 2020 when it began to purchase Bitcoin. Then Square, the company purchased Bitcoin in two transactions for a total of $210 million. The holdings amount to 8,027 Bitcoins which were worth $154.75 million in October 2022. The purpose of Spiral is to fund open-sourced applications that encourage and facilitate the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Dorsey remains the CEO and chairman of Block, Inc. The company employs more than 8,500 individuals across its footprint and netted $17.66 billion in revenue for 2021. Mr. Dorsey is also the company’s largest shareholder with about 10% of the shares.

Written by Jeffrey Neal Johnson

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $65.18 to $67.54
• 50-Day Range: $57.26 to $68.64
• 52-Week Range: $38.85 to $87.52
• Volume: 7.33 million shs
• Average Volume: 8.31 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $41.23 billion
• P/E Ratio: 86.98
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $87.34
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Block Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Block scored higher than 90% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 35th out of 356 stocks in the business services sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Block has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.81, and is based on 24 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Block has been the subject of 12 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 55.81%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Block are expected to grow by 55.81% in the coming year, from $1.72 to $2.68 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Block is 86.98, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 117.28.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Block is 86.98, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 24.30.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Block has a PEG Ratio of 1.18. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Block has a P/B Ratio of 2.21. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.53% of the outstanding shares of Block have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Block has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.5, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Block has recently increased by 6.95%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: N/A

Dividend Yield

Block does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Block does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.53% of the outstanding shares of Block have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Block has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.5, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Block has recently increased by 6.95%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.59

News Sentiment

Block has a news sentiment score of 0.59. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 12 news articles for Block this week, compared to 13 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 71 people have searched for SQ on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -37% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 18 people have added Block to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -42% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Block insiders have bought 1,263.17% more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $25,000,008.00 in company stock and sold $1,833,962.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

10.49% of the stock of Block is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

70.44% of the stock of Block is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

SQ Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have SQ shares performed this year?

Block's stock was trading at $77.35 on January 1st, 2024. Since then, SQ stock has decreased by 13.4% and is now trading at $66.97.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Block's earnings last quarter?

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August, 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The business's revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

When did Block IPO?

Block (SQ) raised $324 million in an IPO on Thursday, November 19th 2015. The company issued 27,000,000 shares at $11.00-$13.00 per share. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan served as the underwriters for the IPO and Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets, Stifel, LOYAL3 Securities and SMBC Nikko were co-managers.

Who are Block's major shareholders?

Block's top institutional shareholders include Baillie Gifford & Co. (1.63%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. (1.42%), ARK Investment Management LLC (1.34%) and Lone Pine Capital LLC (1.25%). Insiders that own company stock include Brian Grassadonia, Alyssa Henry, Amrita Ahuja, Sivan Whiteley, Chrysty Esperanza, Ajmere Dale and Lawrence Henry Summers.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Block?

Shares of SQ stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Block own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Block investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Alibaba Group (BABA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), PayPal (PYPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Micron Technology (MU).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/01/2024
• Today: 9/28/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/07/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Business Services
• Industry: Prepackaged software
• Sub-Industry: N/A
• Current Symbol: NYSE:SQ
• CUSIP: N/A
• CIK: 1512673
• Web: www.squareup.com
• Phone: 415-375-3176
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 12,985
• Year Founded: 2009

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $87.34
• High Stock Price Target: $106.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $46.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +30.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.81
• Research Coverage: 31 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $0.77
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 86.98
• Forward P/E Ratio: 38.94
• P/E Growth: 1.18
• Net Income: $9.77 million
• Net Margins: 3.47%
• Pretax Margin: 3.25%
• Return on Equity: 3.77%
• Return on Assets: 2.02%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.26
• Current Ratio: 1.82
• Quick Ratio: 1.82

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $21.92 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.88
• Cash Flow: N/A
• Price / Cash Flow: N/A
• Book Value: $30.35 per share
• Price / Book: 2.21

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 615,650,000
• Free Float: 552,313,000
• Market Cap: $41.23 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 2.49