UPDATED 20:15 EDT / NOVEMBER 05 2020

APPS

Shares in Square surge after it smashes revenue and earnings estimates

Shares in Square Inc. surged in after-hours trading after the financial services provider smashed revenue and earnings in its third fiscal quarter.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Square’s revenue jumped 140%, to $3.03 billion, from a year ago. Analysts had been predicting just $2.04 billion. Revenue includes $2.07 billion from its Cash App business, up 574% year-over-year, and $965 million from its seller business.

Gross profit rose 59%, to $794 million, while net income came in at $37 million or 8 cents per share, square on analysts’ estimate.

Square’s support for cryptocurrency payments on its network accounted for much of the quarter’s boost. Revenue from the company’s Cash App business, excluding bitcoin, came in at $435 million. That means bitcoin services alone delivered $1.635 billion of the overall $2.04 billion in revenue in the division.

MarketWatch noted that the inclusion of Square’s bitcoin efforts, which allows users to buy and sell the cryptocurrency, “muddy the company’s financials a bit as the revenue from bitcoin activity is a fairly low margin, with Square looking to facilitate these bitcoin purchases for users without generating much profit.” Indeed, according to the earnings report, sales of bitcoin on the Cash App delivered only $32 million in gross profit.

Operating expenses in the quarter rose 59%, to $745 million. Marketing expenses led the increase, up 217% for Square’s Cash App.

“Our results in the third quarter highlight our ability to reach new customers as we drove strong acquisition across both Seller and Cash App,” Square said in a letter to shareholders. “While the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, we continue to believe that our Seller and Cash App ecosystems are well-positioned to benefit from the acceleration of secular shifts, such as omnichannel commerce, contactless payments and digital wallets for consumers.”

Square declined to provide estimates for the fourth quarter but did provide some data for October. It noted that Seller revenue was up 8% in October, while Cash App “delivered strong revenue and gross profit growth” year-over-year. The company did warn, however, that gross profit in October moderated from the third quarter, driven by a decline in transaction volume per customer.

Investors liked the numbers, driving Square’s share price up as much as 5.5% in after-hours trading at one point before settling. Square shares were sitting at $181.70, up 3.7% as of 8 p.m. EST.

Image: Square

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