Square Shares Fall After Agreeing to Buy Payment Firm for $29 Billion, Posting Lower-Than-Expected 2Q Revenue

By Dave Sebastian

Square Inc. shares fell 4.4% in premarket trading Monday after the financial technology company agreed to buy payment firm Afterpay Ltd. in an all-stock deal worth about $29 billion and posted lower-than-expected revenue for the second quarter.

The financial-technology company on Sunday said a key attraction of the deal was a growing wariness toward traditional credit among younger consumers, a group particularly hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as lockdowns crushed many hospitality and casual jobs. Afterpay's technology allows users to pay for goods in four, interest-free installments while receiving the goods immediately.

The company posted net revenue of $4.68 billion, up from $1.92 billion in the comparable period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for $5.03 billion.

Transaction-based revenue rose to $1.23 billion from $682.6 million, and bitcoin revenue rose to $2.72 billion from $875.5 million.

The company posted net income attributable to shareholders of $204 million, compared with a loss of $11.48 million in the year-ago period. Earnings were 40 cents a share, compared with a loss of 3 cents a share.

Adjusted earnings were 66 cents a share. Analysts were expecting 31 cents a share.

Shares were down after closing at $247.26 on Friday.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 02, 2021 07:17 ET (11:17 GMT)

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