Block, Shopify and Stifel Financial are trading near buy points as financial stocks power higher with earnings season underway. Lululemon is trading in a buy zone after hiking its outlook earlier in the month. AppLovin rounds out this week's list of stocks to watch with results due on Feb. 12. Shopify and AppLovin also rank on the IBD Leaderboard list of top-performing stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and major stock indexes retreated Friday as the market digested President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China starting Saturday.
Block
Square and Cash App parent Block is now trading under the ticker XYZ after changing its symbol from SQ on Jan. 21.
The digital payments company has been on the uptrend as other financial stocks have been performing well amid earnings results.
Discover Financial Services posted a 252% EPS gain for its Jan. 22 results, while Visa and Mastercard both surged to record highs following their earnings results last week.
Shift4 Payments have both rallied about 17% so far this year. Paysafe and Toast are both up 14% in 2025.
Meanwhile, Block is set to report its own Q4 results on Feb. 20. FactSet analysts project a 95% increase in earnings to 88 cents per share on 9% revenue growth to $6.29 billion.
Block also holds 8,363 bitcoin as of the third quarter as part of its long-term investment strategy. The cryptos are worth over $861 million with bitcoin trading around $103,000 on Friday.
XYZ stock was the IBD Stock Of The Day for Friday. Shares reclaimed their 50-day moving average last week, even with Friday's pullback. Investors could use its Jan. 6 high of 93.83 as an early buying opportunity.
XYZ stock is consolidating with a traditional buy point at 99.26. Shares have rebounded about 15% from their January lows.
Lululemon
Lululemon fell Friday, ending a seven-day win streak and pulling back below a 420.21 buy point from a seven-week flat base.
The current buy zone for the pattern, which extends 5% beyond the buy point, stretches to 441.22.
LULU stock has rebounded sharply from its 2024 low in early August.
The athleisure retailer in mid-January lifted its Q4 guidance based on its strong holiday performance.
Lululemon expects revenue for the January-ending fourth quarter to rise 11%-12% to $3.56 billion to $3.58 billion vs. its previous guidance of $3.475 billion to $3.51 billion. The company now forecasts earnings of $5.81-$5.85 per share, compared to its prior outlook for $5.56 to $5.64 per share. The outlook was ahead of analyst expectations.
Shopify
In addition to the Leaderboard list, Shopify also ranks on the IBD Big Cap 20 list.
SHOP stock was added to SwingTrader on Thursday as a full position with a 119.50 entry. SwingTrader trimmed its position to 3/4 on Friday to take profit.
Shopify reversed from a three-year high on Friday, but is trading above a 115.37 buy point for a double-bottom base.
Shares have more than doubled from their 2024 low at the beginning of August.
Meanwhile, Shopify is set to report Q4 results on Feb. 11.
FactSet expects the e-commerce company to report a 26% increase in earnings to 43 cents per share on 25% revenue growth to $2.68 billion.
Cathie Wood is also an investor in Shopify. Her ARK Innovation ETF and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF hold about $292 million and $74 million worth of shares, respectively.
Stifel Financial
Stifel Financial topped Q4 estimates on Wednesday with a nearly 49% increase in earnings to $2.23 per share adjusted on 19% revenue growth to $1.36 billion.
Analysts expected earnings of $1.97 per share on $1.28 billion in revenue.
Stifel's global wealth management revenues increased 13% for the quarter, while investment banking revenues spiked 49%.
The company also noted record revenue, asset management revenues and client assets for 2024.
Stifel's board authorized a 10% increase in its stock dividend to 46 cents per share starting in the first quarter.
In terms of 2025 guidance, Stifel expects net revenue to range from $5.25 billion to $5.75 billion, with $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in net interest income.
SF stock cleared a 116.40 buy point for a cup-with-handle base on Wednesday, but just dipped below that level on Friday.
AppLovin
AppLovin, a mobile game and app marketing platform, was the IBD Stock Of The Day for Thursday.
APP stock has a 417.63 buy point for an eight-week consolidation. The buy point matches its record high from Dec. 6.
Shares last week flirted with their recent high of 371.77 on Jan. 22, which mark an early entry opportunity.
AppLovin provides a software platform that enables app developers to market, monetize and analyze their products. The company also makes mobile games including "Wordscapes", "Matchington Mansion" and "Game of War."
In a Jan. 25 note, Jefferies wrote that AppLovin "remains the No. 1 return on ad spend (ROAS) network for the largest spenders." The company should also benefit from accelerating mobile ad spending growth in 2025, the firm added.
For its Q4 results on Feb. 12, FactSet expects earnings increase 155% to $1.25 per share on 32% revenue growth to $1.26 billion.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on X/Twitter @IBD_Harrison
