Block (SQ) earnings Q3 2024

block reported third-quarter revenue on Thursday that fell in need of Wall Street expectations. There was initially a sell-off within the stock after trading, but this recouped a lot of the losses as investors focused more on profitability metrics.

Here's how the corporate compares to LSEG analysts' consensus estimates.

  • Earnings per share: 88 cents adjusted versus 87 cents expected
  • Revenue: $5.98 billion versus expected $6.24 billion

Amrita Ahuja, Block's chief financial officer, told CNBC that analysts are more focused on gross profit than revenue, citing the corporate's earnings growth and outperformance in comparison with expectations.

Block, formerly generally known as Square, posted gross profit of $2.25 billion, up 19% from a 12 months ago. The company reported a net profit of $283.7 million, or 45 cents per share, after losing $88.7 million, or 15 cents per share, a 12 months earlier.

The Cash App business, the corporate's popular mobile payment platform and a key contributor to overall profitability, reported gross profit of $1.31 billion, a twenty first% Jump year-on-year. Block, run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said the variety of monthly lively users of its Cash App Card rose 11% 12 months over 12 months to greater than 24 million.

Gross payment volume was $62.4 billion, falling in need of analysts' estimates of $64.3 billion. However, the corporate has improved its cost structure. Fourth-quarter gross profit will rise 14% to $2.31 billion, Block said.

When it involves earnings, analysts focused on the buy now, pay later segment. In 2021, Block acquired Australian BNPL company Afterpay for $29 billion.

CEO Dorsey dedicated his quarterly shareholder letter to explaining the corporate's lending products, including Square Loans, Afterpay Buy Now Pay Later and Cash App Borrow. He said the corporate wants to rework Cash App Cards “into a better alternative to credit cards” when it launches Afterpay on Cash App Card.

Ahuja told CNBC that the corporate's lending products use artificial intelligence to enable “smarter and faster” decisions and help Block “manage risk and be agile in the way we insure consumers and small businesses.” “.

She said this has helped the company keep loss rates low across all different products. These interest rates are approximately 1% for Buy Now, Pay Later, 3% for Cash App Loans, and 4% for Square Loans.

“Lending is the key driver of future monetization for Cash App users,” Kevin Kennedy, an analyst at global research firm Third Bridge, said in an email.

Outside of economic services, Cash App could help Block construct an promoting business and charge merchants for promotional pricing or brand placement, Kennedy said.

As a part of its cost-cutting measures, the corporate said in its letter to shareholders that it might reduce its investment in Tidal, the music streaming service founded by Jay-Z, and fully wind down TBD, the Bitcoin-focused arm of Block. The company went through redundancies Earlier this 12 months.

Dorsey said on the earnings call that relating to Bitcoin, the corporate's focus is on “making it more accessible,” which it does through Cash App. In addition, block applies Bitcoin in its balance sheet. The company said it had 8,300 Bitcoins at the top of the quarter, currently value about $630 million.

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