Block Stock Earnings: SQ advances on solid Q1 beat

Block (SQ) stock rose 2.4% to $61.89 in Friday's premarket on healthy first quarter results that came in ahead of Wall Street consensus. The owner of the Square payment system and CashApp platform reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.40 that bested the $0.34 consensus. Revenue of $5 billion also outdid the consensus by $390 million.

Block earnings results

Gross profit climbed an impressive 32% YoY to $1.71 billion. CEO and founder Jack Dorsey talked about the many opportunities he sees expanding to the so-called Global South. Gross profit internationally rose 29% YoY, better than the overall company

"Adjusted operating income, which includes expenses related to stock based compensation and depreciation and amortization, was $51 million in the first quarter, up from a $42 million loss in the prior year period," said CFO Amrita Ahuja.

Ahuja added that Block now had 14 revenue streams across the CashApp and Square ecosystems that generated more than $100 million in revenue during the quarter. This was up from 11 in the year ago period.

Transaction-based revenue rose 15.4% YoY to $1.42 billion. Subscription and services revenue rose 42% YoY to $1.37 billion. Hardware revenue was largely flat, while Bitcoin revenue rose 25% YoY to $2.16 billion. Overall, revenue rose 26% YoY, while the cost of revenue rose 22.9% over the same period.

Block stock forecast

Block stock remains below the 21-day moving average in the premarket. That average sits currently at $62.95. Bulls need to overtake that moving average to create any sort of uptrend. For now the $71.90 support level from February and March remains out of reach. After a few poor sessions, SQ stock could drop back to support at $59.

SQ daily chart