(Reuters) -Block missed Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday amid persistent economic uncertainty and intensifying competition in the payments sector, sparking a more than 11% slide in its shares after the bell.
The company’s Square segment, which provides payments solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses, reported gross profit of $1.02 billion, up from $932 million a year ago. However, growth slowed to 9% from a 16% seen in the year-ago quarter.
Bitcoin revenue fell to $1.97 billion in the quarter ended September 30, from $2.43 billion. The company facilitates bitcoin purchases by acquiring the cryptocurrency through private-broker dealers and reselling it at a small premium.
Cash App, however, posted a higher gross profit and showed better growth from a year earlier. Mounting pressure from peer-to-peer payments apps had weighed on the growth in the business.
The Jack Dorsey-led payments company posted an adjusted net income of 54 cents per share, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 67 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
“The stock is down in after hours trading, we believe, due to the bottom line miss and because it was a popular long into results,” Truist analysts said in a note.
Block expects gross profit of $10.24 billion for 2025, compared with $10.17 billion forecast earlier.
Its shares have lost nearly 17% of their value so far in 2025, underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index. The company was added to the index earlier in the year.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
Comments