Square (SQ) Stock Moves -0.28%: What You Should Know

Square (SQ) closed at $73.76 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.28% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.59%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.35%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.88%.

Heading into today, shares of the mobile payments services provider had lost 18.01% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.44% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.1% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SQ as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 7, 2018. On that day, SQ is projected to report earnings of $0.11 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 57.14%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $860.52 million, up 47.06% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.45 per share and revenue of $3.23 billion, which would represent changes of +66.67% and +45.72%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SQ. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. SQ is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, SQ currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 163.97. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 62.34.

Investors should also note that SQ has a PEG ratio of 6.56 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Internet - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.93 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 64, putting it in the top 25% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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