Square's parent Block put up terrific numbers this past year, with quarterly EPS growth ranging from 31% to 117% accompanied by double-digit sales growth. The fintech's stock soared 85% from a mid-October low. On Wednesday the Relative Strength (RS) Rating for Block stock climbed to a higher percentile, with an increase from 77 to 81.
Block Stock Joins Select Growth Stock Group
The upgraded 81 RS Rating shows that Block stock is in the top 20% of all stocks in IBD's database for price performance this past year. It's a telling upgrade because market research shows that the best stocks typically have an 80 or higher RS Rating in the early stages of their moves.
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Block provides its Square branded point-of-sale software and devices such as desktop and handheld terminals to a wide variety of industries.
Additionally, four is a big number for Block. It says on its website that there are more than 4 million sellers using its Square apps, accounting for 4 billion trade transactions annually. Additionally there has been more than $4 billion lent in Square loan transactions.
Profit Popped 98% Last Quarter
Meanwhile, watchlist candidate Block stock rose above its 21-day line Wednesday. It was already well above its 200-day but it's still below its 50-day. Block stock broke out from a flat base in late February but hasn't made a lot of progress from there. It's not currently showing a specific buy point. See if the stock goes on to build a promising consolidation that could launch a new move.
The company posted 98% earnings growth in the latest quarterly report to 85 cents per share, while sales grew 19% to $5.96 billion.
Block stock earns the No. 4 rank among its peers in the 38-stock Finance-Card/Payment Processing industry group. Kaspi.kz is the No. 1-ranked stock in the group.
IBD's unique Relative Strength Rating identifies market leadership with a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score. The rating shows how a stock's price behavior over the trailing 52 weeks stacks up against all the other stocks in our database.
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