Square (SQ) closed at $88.63 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.07% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.01%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.09%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.26%.
Coming into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had gained 20.8% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 5.63%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.73%.
SQ will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 14, 2018. On that day, SQ is projected to report earnings of $0.11 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 57.14%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $860.52 million, up 47.06% from the year-ago period.
SQ’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $0.45 per share and revenue of $3.23 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +66.67% and +45.72%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for SQ. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 121.59% lower. SQ is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, SQ is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 194.3. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 73.97, so we one might conclude that SQ is trading at a premium comparatively.
Investors should also note that SQ has a PEG ratio of 7.77 right now. 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 industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.86 as of yesterday’s close.
The Internet – Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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