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   Technology StocksBlock, Inc. (formerly Square)


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From: AmigaComputer7/16/2019 6:28:43 PM
   of 66
 
Q2 results come in on Aug. 1. Investors should look at revenue growth which should be very impressive and their adjusted earnings per share, which was very impressive in Q1.

Also one should pay close attention to how their Cash App is doing. The volume has been growing at a faster clip vs PayPal's version.

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To: AmigaComputer who wrote (16)7/16/2019 7:06:16 PM
From: Zen Dollar Round
   of 66
 
Square seems like a great long term play. Many small businesses I've gone to use Square for payment processing, and the ability to process credit cards right from a smartphone is fantastic.

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From: inspbudget7/19/2019 6:00:07 PM
   of 66
 
Hello, found out about this board recently, so hope to greatly benefit from the accumulated wisdom & experience of all of the members here.

I have owned SQ for only a short while, employing a strategy of writing covered calls, and once assigned, writing cash secured puts at the same strike.

Presently sitting on a couple hundred shares with a CC next week @ $78.50. If assigned, I intend to write cash secured Puts at the $78.50 or $75.00 strike. Haven't decided yet.

Any insight and/or comment about today's weak price performance ? Seems like the trend was down right from the opening bell, and not abating at all. rather disappointing to observe. Thinking ( guessing ) that options expiry might have something to do with it.

Look forward to learning from the board

IB

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From: Glenn Petersen8/1/2019 9:48:40 PM
1 Recommendation   of 66
 
DoorDash is buying Caviar from Square in a deal worth $410 million

Megan Rose Dickey @meganrosedickey
TechCrunch
August 1, 2019

DoorDash has reached an agreement with Square to purchase on-demand food delivery and catering business Caviar. DoorDash has agreed to pay Square $410 million in cash and preferred DoorDash stock.

Square bought Caviar about five years ago in a deal worth about $90 million. Now, Caviar has found a new home with DoorDash, the on-demand delivery startup that had been under fire for months regarding how it pays its delivery workers. DoorDash is finally starting to do right by its workers by saying it will no longer subsidize wages with tips, though, that has not gone into effect just yet. However, Sage Wilson of workers’ rights organization Working Washington said doing right by workers would also entail backpay.

“Today’s announcement is another important step forward on our mission to empower local economies,” DoorDash CEO Tony Xu (pictured above) said in a statement. “We have long-admired Caviar, which has a coveted brand, an exceptional portfolio of premium restaurants and leading technology. The acquisition further enhances the breadth of our merchant selection, enabling us to offer customers even more choice when they order through DoorDash. We look forward to welcoming the Caviar team to DoorDash and expanding our partnership with Square in the future.”

With Caviar joining DoorDash, Square’s Caviar lead, Gokul Rajaram, along with all the other Caviar employees, will join DoorDash once the acquisition closes. The deal is expected to close sometime this year.

“Caviar has built a trusted brand with customers and many of the best restaurants,” Rajaram said in a statement. “DoorDash has national scale, complementary restaurant selection, a tremendous logistics platform, and a team that shares our passion and commitment to better serve restaurants, couriers, and customers. I’m incredibly excited to be joining, with the rest of the Caviar team, to help build the future of local commerce.”

For Square, this deal provides the company with an opportunity to focus more on its products for businesses and individuals, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said.

“We are increasing our focus on and investment in our two large, growing ecosystems — one for businesses and one for individuals,” Dorsey said. “This transaction furthers that effort, and we believe partnering with DoorDash provides valuable and strategic opportunities for Square.”

It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time Square has tried to rid itself of Caviar. In 2016, Bloomberg reported Square was wanting to sell Caviar for $100 million but couldn’t find a buyer. At the time, Square was reportedly in talks with Uber, Grubhub and Yelp due to Caviar’s excessive losses. Square, however, does not break out specific Caviar earnings.

Meanwhile, Square just reported its Q2 2019 earnings with net revenues of $1.17 billion (44% y/o/y growth), adjusted revenues of $563 million (46% y/o/y growth) and a net loss of $7 million. In Square’s letter to shareholders, the company described how there will now be more clarity regarding how the company operates.

“Furthermore, DoorDash is already integrated with Square for Restaurants, which streamlines the acceptance of online and in-person orders for merchants, and in the second quarter Cash Boost partnered with DoorDash to provide instant rewards when customers use their Cash Card at DoorDash. We believe continuing this partnership provides valuable and strategic opportunities for Square.”

As Dorsey said on today’s earnings call, “as DoorDash succeeds, we succeed.”

The big players in the on-demand food delivery space are now DoorDash/Caviar, Postmates, UberEats and Grubhub/Seamless. In May, DoorDash raised a $400 million round valuing it at $12.6 billion. Postmates, easily now one of DoorDash’s prime competitors, is currently worth about $1.85 billion and confidentially filed to go public earlier this year. Though, that IPO has yet to happen.

techcrunch.com

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (19)8/2/2019 9:57:38 AM
From: Glenn Petersen
   of 66
 
SQ is down 16% this morning.

Square falls 7% after forecasting lower-than-expected guidance

Published Thu, Aug 1 2019 3:59 PM EDT
Updated Thu, Aug 1 2019 6:15 PM EDT
Kate Rooney @Kr00ney

Key Points
  • Adjusted third-quarter earnings per share guidance came in below Wall Street estimates. The company issued a range of between 18 cents and 20 cents per share, compared to 22 cents analysts had expected.
  • Square announced a deal to sell its food delivery company Caviar to DoorDash for $410 million.
  • Square’s gross payment volume came in at $26.8 billion vs. $26.9 billion Wall Street had expected.
Shares of Square dropped as much as 8% in after-hours trading Thursday after the payments company issued weaker-than-expected guidance. The company still beat analysts’ earnings and revenue expectations for the second quarter.

Here’s how Square did compared with what Wall Street was looking for:
  • Earnings: 21 cents per share, vs. 17 cents forecast by Refinitiv.
  • Adjusted revenue: $563 million vs. $557.1 million, forecast by Refinitiv.
Adjusted third-quarter earnings per share guidance came in below expectations. The company forecasted a range of between 18 cents and 20 cents per share, compared to 22 cents analysts had expected. Square did not update its full-year guidance.

“The third quarter is an important time for us to invest,” Square CFO Amrita Ahuja said on a call with reporters. “We expect these investments to benefit us and to drive growth in the future.”

Adjusted revenue rose to $563 million in the second quarter, a 46% jump year over year. Gross payment volume came in at $26.8 billion vs. the $26.9 billion Wall Street had expected. More than half of Square’s payment volume came from larger sellers.

The company updated investors on its popular peer-to-peer Cash App — largely seen as a competitor to PayPal’s Venmo. Excluding bitcoin trading, which launched on the app last January, revenue on the app came in at $135 million for the second quarter. That’s up from “negligible” revenue when the app first launched three years ago, Ahuja said on a call with analysts.

Square also launched a debit card for businesses in January, which the CFO said was “driving daily utility” on Square as customers “increasingly used the cash card as a spending tool.” In June, Square said in its shareholder letter that roughly 3.5 million people used the card for daily purchases like food, groceries, transportation or at big box retailers.

Square also announced a deal to sell its food delivery company Caviar to DoorDash for $410 million. The acquisition will be a mix of cash and DoorDash preferred stock and is expected to close at the end of this year. According a securities filing, Square bought Caviar for $44.3 million in 2014.

CEO Jack Dorsey, who also runs Twitter, said in the move was meant to increase Square’s focus on its business and consumer ecosystems.

“We have seen a lot of opportunity to strengthen both these ecosystems but those opportunities require more focus and more investment,” Dorsey said on a call with analysts. “To increase our focus, we decided to sell our Caviar business to DoorDash.”

Square’s stock had been on a tear this year with a more than 40% rally since January, compared to a 20% rise in the S&P 500.

The San Francisco-based company is best known for its credit card processor, payment hardware and growing Cash App. Square also facilitates small business loans through Square Capital. During the second quarter, Square facilitated 78,000 loans totaling $528 million — a 36% jump year over year.

The company also applied for a special industrial loan company license that allows less traditional financial firms to accept government-insured deposits. When asked on the call, Square said it did not have an update on the status of its banking application.

cnbc.com

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (20)8/2/2019 10:19:31 AM
From: inspbudget
   of 66
 
Seems like a really extreme reaction to lowered guidance.

Down 16% even when they hit their earnings target, and with good yoy figures?

I suppose folks just wanting an excuse to take profits and run.

Was sitting pretty yesterday, today I'm solidly underwater by about $10 - ugh.

SQ should recover to the mid 70's as cooler heads prevail in a few weeks time - I hope.

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To: inspbudget who wrote (21)8/2/2019 10:33:07 AM
From: Glenn Petersen
1 Recommendation   of 66
 
Seems like a really extreme reaction to lowered guidance.

I concur. In a nervous market investors are always looking for an excuse to sell. SQ gave them an excuse. I am still bullish long-term.

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (22)8/2/2019 2:23:05 PM
From: Zen Dollar Round
   of 66
 
Yep, not a good time to release a disappointing earnings report or lowered guidance for any company.

Apple has had the same reaction to its stock and it surprised many analysts with its earning and guidance. It's now trading below its pre-earnings price.

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From: AmigaComputer8/10/2019 8:16:54 PM
2 Recommendations   of 66
 
To me, the sizeable selling off, the day after the disappointing Q2 announcement, tumbling the stock by 30% from its 52 week high, i feel could be in part due to Square selling Caviar for $410m to DoorDash. For those unfamiliar, Caviar is yet-another food delivery business. To me, the sale makes sense. Square should stick to its payment business model and not be trying to follow whats hot right now, entering markets that don't fit. On the bright side to the stock bad news, because Square bought Caviar for $44m they ended up making over $360m profit :)

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To: AmigaComputer who wrote (24)8/11/2019 2:53:23 AM
From: Zen Dollar Round
   of 66
 
I didn't understand the negative reaction to the Caviar sale either. I had never even heard of Caviar nor did I know Square owned them. You're right, they don't need to be in that market given the number of players already there.

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