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Block (SQ) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Block (SQ - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $56.62, moving -1.38% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.75% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.32%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.1%.

Heading into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had lost 22.72% over the past month, lagging the Business Services sector's loss of 10.95% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.4% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Block as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be November 3, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Block to post earnings of $0.26 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 29.73%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.49 billion, up 16.68% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $0.91 per share and revenue of $17.57 billion. These totals would mark changes of -46.78% and -0.49%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Block. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Block is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Block's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 63.41. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.99, which means Block is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that SQ currently has a PEG ratio of 8.94. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Technology Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.81 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Technology Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 154, putting it in the bottom 39% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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