Bears found little to criticize after parsing Block’s (NYSE:SQ) Q1 report, which featured better-than-forecast earnings and revenue and stronger guidance.
The payment and fintech app company saw gross profit drive up 3% sequentially and 22% from a year ago to $2.09B, exceeding its prior guidance range of $2.00B-$2.02B, thanks to strength across Buy Now Pay Later, Bitcoin, Cash App Borrow and Cash App Card. Gross payment volume, however, dipped to $54.4B from the prior quarter’s $57.5B, but advanced from $51.5B a year before.
“The positive results reflect the potential for more good news in the coming quarters,” said HSBC Global Research analyst Saul Martinez.
In all, “there was little for bears to pick at in,” BTIG analyst Andrew Harte wrote in a note, adding some investors might have criticized Block (SQ) Head Jack Dorsey’s shareholder letter being fully dedicated to bitcoin (BTC-USD).
But “we think the upside potential he lays out in the letter from bitcoin activities paired with the fact that only 3% of company resources are dedicated to bitcoin-related projects will quickly quiet any skeptics,” the note said.
The company unveiled a new bitcoin (BTC-USD) plan in conjunction with its Q1 results, released Thursday. Instead of buying bitcoin (BTC-USD) in lump sums, which Block (SQ) previously pursued, it’s starting to invest 10% of its gross profit from bitcoin-related products into BTC purchases.
SQ gained 2.8% in Friday morning trading, paring its year-to-date loss to 6.6%.