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

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Square (SQ - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $102.29, moving -0.51% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.84%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.06%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.1%.

Coming into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had lost 28.84% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 5.35%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.03%.

Square will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 24, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.20, down 37.5% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.95 billion, up 25.04% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Square. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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 has moved 19.45% lower. Square is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, Square is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 64.06. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 50.73, so we one might conclude that Square is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that SQ has a PEG ratio of 1.9. 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. Internet - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.95 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, putting it in the bottom 38% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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