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Block (SQ) Rises As Market Takes a Dip: Key Facts

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Block (SQ - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $62.74, demonstrating a +1.36% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.25% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.77%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.79%.

Coming into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had lost 8.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector lost 0.21%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.59%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Block in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.75, up 92.31% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.29 billion, up 13.63% from the year-ago period.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $3.11 per share and a revenue of $25.22 billion, signifying shifts of +72.78% and +15.07%, respectively, from the last year.

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

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 1.41% upward. Block is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Block is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.92. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 21.17, which means Block is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that SQ currently has a PEG ratio of 0.6. 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. The Technology Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.41 as of yesterday's close.

The Technology Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 66, which puts it in the top 27% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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