A combination of a better-than-expected second quarter and some price target hikes for Square (SQ +1.51%) stock have sent shares of the financial technology company to all-time highs recently. Up 110% year to date and 192% over the past 12 months, expectations for the company are sky-high. Can Square keep investors happy?
Square's Q2 results, which featured the company's fifth quarter in a row of accelerating revenue growth and impressive momentum across virtually all of its major products and services, make a good case for the stock's premium valuation. But for investors seeking more insight, look no further than the company's second-quarter earnings call.
During the call, Square provided a look into Cash App's impressive success, Caviar's sharp growth, and management's reinvestment plans. Here are three key quotes on these topics.
Cash App. Image source: Square.
Cash App's success
Square's peer-to-peer payment service, Cash App, has been a big hit for Square. The app's success has come into the limelight recently when news broke that cumulative downloads of the app exceeded those of Paypal's peer-to-peer payment app, Venmo.
Cash App's notable performance has been propelled by management's efforts to morph the peer-to-peer payment service into an ecosystem of consumer services, including a debit card, its Cash Boost rewards system, and Instant Deposit.
To this end, Square CEO Jack Dorsey shared some exciting data on the Cash Card, a debit card launched last summer for Cash App customers. "[Cash App] customers spent $250 million in June [with the Cash Card]. The spend has nearly tripled since December and represents $3 billion on an annualized basis," Dorsey said.
Of course, Square isn't stopping here. "[W]e continue to expand Cash App to provide more financial services that customers rely on daily," Dorsey said.
Caviar's sharp growth
Another Square product seeing robust growth is Caviar, a restaurant delivery service. Square said revenue for the product more than doubled year over year in Q2.
When asked about the drivers behind Caviar's strong growth, Dorsey said restaurants are adopting the service because of the integrated ecosystem of Square products and services that come with Caviar:
I think the other thing that we benefit from is the fact that we are part of Square and we have a much broader ecosystem that we can show these restaurants to. Whether they're just doing pickup or they're doing delivery, we can show them everything else that we have to offer, inclusive of things like Square Payroll and Square Capital, our Square for Restaurants point of sale, our customer directories.
So, we do have a much broader offering that people don't have to put together all the pieces around.
Square's three big bets
Along with Square's second-quarter results, the company notably boosted its full-year revenue guidance. But its outlook for $240 million to $250 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) remained unchanged. Management said that this reflected its plans to invest aggressively in its business.
CFO Sarah Friar broke down how the company is thinking about these investments:
Our 2018 priorities of omnichannel, financial services, and international will guide our reinvestment spend for the remainder of the year. We believe these areas will provide meaningful value to our sellers and consumers, not to mention substantially increase our total addressable market. Our growth acceleration in recent periods is the result of investments we've made over the past few years.
Friar said Square's Cash App is a great example of the successful products that can come out of the company's investments.
