Block Inc. Earns Analyst Praise: Q2 Results Showcase Cash App Growth, Strategic Innovations

Shares of Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) were trading flat on Friday, after the company reporting its second-quarter results.

The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways.

JPMorgan On Block

Analyst Tien-tsin Huang reaffirmed an Overweight rating, while raising the price target from $137 to $138.

Block reported gross profits at $2.23 billion, higher than the Street's $2.19 billion expectations, up 20%, Huang said in a note. The company's EBITDA was very healthy, at $759 million, "implying margins of 34%," he added.

"Numbers aside, the focus on GTM (go-to-market) in Jack Dorsey's SH letter should be music to investors' ears, expanding distribution to include partners and local sales to put Square on more equal footing with scaled competitors," the analyst wrote. "The latter is an example of SQ's shift to a functional organization, which Dorsey expects to produce better engineered product faster," he added.

Goldman Sachs On Block

Analyst Will Nance maintained a Buy rating, while lifting the price target from $80 to $81.

Block reported strong second-quarter results, which "showcased strong execution on driving product adoption across the business, notably this quarter in Cash App," Nance said. The new Borrow product at Cash App "appears to be driving better than expected results (with new originations up ~70% over two quarters) and where the outlook was notably better," he added.

The company's go-to-market strategy was "the highlight of the quarter, and this gave us increased confidence in SQ's ability to tie together the multiple product enhancements it is making with a more balanced mix of digital, channel, and direct customer acquisition," the analyst further wrote.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

RBC Capital Markets On Block

Analyst Daniel Perlin reiterated a Neutral rating and price target of $88.

Block reported solid results, with adjusted EBITDA of $73 million beating Street expectations, with 98% year-on-year growth, "as the company's cost containment efforts continue to positively impact performance," Perlin wrote. The company raised its guidance for adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating income, and gross profit, he added.

The company's total gross payment volume (GPV) grew by 5% year-on-year to $61.9 billion, with Cash App GPV of $3.57 billion and Square GPV of $58.4 billion, the analyst further stated.

Benchmark On Block

Analyst Mark Palmer reaffirmed a Buy rating and price target of $99.

"Block's report offered multiple reasons for investors to feel more upbeat about its prospects included solid earnings and adjusted EBITDA beats versus Street estimates, increased full-year 2024 guidance across each of its key measures of profitability, and the announcement of a new $3bn share buyback," Palmer wrote.

Block's organizational restructure by CEO Dorsey "materialized as the company announced that Nick Molnar, who currently heads its Afterpay buy-now-pay-later unit, was tapped to head a centralized sales effort across Cash App, Square, and Afterpay," the analyst stated. He added that the plan is to connect "Square’s ecosystem and that of Cash App."

Stephens On Block

Analyst Charles Nabhan maintained an Overweight rating and price target of $90.

Block reported a quarterly beat, "driven by strong expense management and better-than-expected results within Cash App," Nabhan said.

The full-year outlook was "increased in excess of the guide and equates to Rule of 35 based on +18% GP growth and a 16% adj op margin (vs. 17%/15% prior)," he added.

SQ Price Action: Shares of Block were up 0.4% to $60.17 at the time of publication on Friday. 

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