Analysts React To Square Earnings: ‘A Tale Of Two Ecosystems’ – Yahoo Finance

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) shares rocketed higher by 11% on Thursday after the company reported losses that more than doubled in the first quarter of 2020.” data-reactid=”19″>Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) shares rocketed higher by 11% on Thursday after the company reported losses that more than doubled in the first quarter of 2020.

Square reported a first-quarter adjusted earnings per share loss of 24 cents, missing analyst expectations of a 13-cent profit. However, revenue of $1.38 billion exceeded consensus estimates of $1.29 billion.

Investors also likely took comfort in management comments on the earnings call suggesting volume growth rates have improved since mid-April.

Several analysts have weighed in on Square.

Divergent Businesses

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette said COVID-19 understandably has had more of a negative impact on the company’s Seller business than on Cash App.” data-reactid=”24″>Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette said COVID-19 understandably has had more of a negative impact on the company’s Seller business than on Cash App.

“Reacceleration in merchant acquiring business is likely to take significant time, which in turn is likely to perpetuate the growth disparity between the merchant acquiring business (Seller business) and its alternative consumer bank (Cash App),” Faucette wrote in a note.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="RBC Capital Markets analyst Daniel Perlin said Square’s earnings report told "a tale of two ecosystems."” data-reactid=”26″>RBC Capital Markets analyst Daniel Perlin said Square’s earnings report told “a tale of two ecosystems.”

“After experiencing a slight impact from COVID-19 in late March, Cash App rebounded strongly, while Seller GPV appears to be stable, with April showing a 39% y/y decline,” Perlin wrote.

Long-Term Outlook Unchanged

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Bank of America analyst Jason Kupferberg said first-quarter numbers were mixed, but the underlying long-term Square bull thesis is intact.” data-reactid=”29″>Bank of America analyst Jason Kupferberg said first-quarter numbers were mixed, but the underlying long-term Square bull thesis is intact.

View more earnings on SQ

“Cash App saw improved trends in March and April, reaching the largest number of net-new transacting active customers in April,” Kupferberg wrote.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Kenneth Hill still expects a difficult second quarter despite improving trends.

“Valuation also remains elevated for the stock at ~76x our 2021 EPS (vs. peer avg. ~33x),” Hill wrote.

SQ Ratings And Price Targets