What happened
Shares of digital financial stock Square (SQ +0.39%) jumped as much as 7.9% in trading on Friday after reporting first-quarter 2021 financial results. The stock held steady most of the day and is up 5.6% at 1:10 p.m. EDT.
So what
Total revenue jumped from $1.38 billion a year ago to $5.06 billion, primarily on the back of a more than ten-fold increase in Bitcoin (BTC +1.06%) revenue to $3.51 billion. Transaction-based revenue was up 26.6% to $959.7 million, and subscription and service-based revenue jumped 88.3% to $557.7 million.
Image source: Square.
Gross profit jumped 79% versus a year ago to $964 million, and net income was $39 million versus a $106 million loss a year ago.
The Bitcoin numbers complicate the financial report and analyst estimates. But analysts were expecting $3.3 billion in revenue, so the company easily surpassed that. And Square's adjusted earnings per share, which pulls out one-time items, of $0.41 topped the $0.17 analysts expected.
Now what
For Square, the great news is that both businesses and consumers are using its products at a growing rate. Gross payment volume through the seller network increased to $29.8 billion from $22.0 billion a year ago, and the Cash App ecosystem is growing with inflows into customer accounts growing 55% between February and March alone. And with 7 million people using their Cash Card each week, Square is becoming a key to consumers' financial lives.
As Square intertwines itself with businesses and consumers, it will be a disruptive force in financial markets. And that's why the stock continued its strong run today.
