Yahoo Finance Square (SQ) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Square (SQ) closed at $128.05 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.04% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.05%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.44%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.66%.
Heading into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had gained 50.3% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.34% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.56% in that time.
SQ will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 5, 2020. In that report, analysts expect SQ to post earnings of -$0.09 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 142.86%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.14 billion, down 2.89% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.14 per share and revenue of $5.19 billion, which would represent changes of -82.5% and +10.21%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SQ. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.39% higher within the past month. SQ is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).
In terms of valuation, SQ is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 924.21. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 71.11.
It is also worth noting that SQ currently has a PEG ratio of 61.04. 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 Internet - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.99 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 46, putting it in the top 19% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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