Square (SQ) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Square (SQ) closed at $241.08 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.32% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.75% gain on the day.
Coming into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had gained 12.82% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 7.17%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.52%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SQ as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.32, up 77.78% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.02 billion, up 160.97% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.51 per share and revenue of $20.25 billion. These totals would mark changes of +79.76% and +113.19%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for SQ. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.89% higher within the past month. SQ is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, SQ is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 159.9. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 61.37, which means SQ is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that SQ has a PEG ratio of 3.39. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Software industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.7 as of yesterday's close.
The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 212, which puts it in the bottom 17% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow SQ in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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