Square Sees Revenue Falling Short of Estimates

(Bloomberg) -- Square Inc. gave a disappointing forecast for second-quarter revenue as its cash-register and payments-processing businesses see increasing competition. It projected adjusted revenue will be $545 million to $555 million, below estimates of $556.6 million. In the same period last year, revenue was $385 million.

Key Insights

• Square reported revenue of $489 million in the first quarter, with analysts projecting $479.4 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A year ago, revenue was $307 million.
• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $62 million, Square said. Analysts estimated $51.5 million.
• The company said the Cash app, its peer-to-peer payments business, saw volume increase by 150 percent in the first quarter compared with the year before.

Market Reaction

• Square’s shares fell as much as 8.4 percent in after-hours trading.
• The stock was up more than 50 percent over the last 12 months at the close of trading Wednesday. The S&P 500 is up about 10 percent over the same period. Square reached an all-time high of $101.15 a share in October and gave up some gains at the end of last year.

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• Last week, PayPal Holdings Inc. finally disclosed the number of annual users for Venmo, a competitor to Square Cash. PayPal’s decision to use the annual number made it hard for analysts to compare the two, however, because Square has only reported monthly figures in the past.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Jillian Ward

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