Square once again saw booming use of the bitcoin-trading functions within its Cash App, helping the payments company easily exceed expectations for its first quarter.
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The company generated net income of $39 million, or 8 cents a share, whereas it posted a net loss of $106 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. After adjustments, Square earned 41 cents a share, versus a loss of 2 cents a share a year earlier. The FactSet consensus called for 17 cents a share in adjusted earnings.
Square posted revenue of $5.1 billion in the first quarter, up from $1.38 billion a year, earlier, fueled by the continued growth of the company’s Cash App, which allows for peer-to-peer trading, bitcoin purchases and stock trading. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting $3.34 billion in revenue.
The company saw $960 million in transaction-based revenue, $558 million in subscription and services revenue, $28 million in hardware revenue and $3.5 billion in bitcoin revenue.
Square’s seller gross payment volume rose to $18.1 billion from $13.5 billion a year earlier. The company is making “meaningful progress with mid-market sellers,” Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja said on a call with reporters.