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Square (SQ) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Square (SQ - Free Report) closed at $242.11, marking a +0.16% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.1% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.9%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.59%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the mobile payments services provider had lost 9.1% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.71% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SQ as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect SQ to post earnings of $0.16 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 900%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.33 billion, up 141.33% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.17 per share and revenue of $14.22 billion, which would represent changes of +39.29% and +49.69%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SQ. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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 has moved 22.38% higher. SQ is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, SQ currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 206.83. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 75.4, so we one might conclude that SQ is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that SQ currently has a PEG ratio of 5.75. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Internet - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 4.02 at yesterday's closing price.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 175, putting it in the bottom 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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