Square delivers solid Q4 as subscription revenue climbs
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Square handily topped fourth quarter earnings and revenue targets Tuesday after the bell.
The payments company reported a Q4 net loss of $15.6 million, or four cents a share. Square's Non-GAAP earnings clocked in at eight cents a share on revenue of $283 million, up 47 percent over the same quarter last year.
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Wall Street was looking for earnings of seven cents a share on revenue of $266.26 million.
Square's gross payment volume (GPV), a key metric for the payments company, ticked up to $17.9 billion, an increase of 31 percent from the same period a year ago. GPV from larger sellers, defined by Square as merchants generating more than $125,000 in annualized revenue, grew 44 percent year over year, attributing 47 percent of GPV for the quarter.
Transaction-based revenue was $525 million, up 30 percent year over year. Square also noted that it had more than 7 million monthly active Cash App customers as of December 2017.
Subscription and services-based revenue, which includes the company's lending service Square Capital and food delivery business Caviar, was $79 million, up 96 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016. Square says it has advanced nearly $305 million to sellers via Square Capital in Q4.
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Hardware revenue was $12 million, up 36 percent from a year ago, bolstered by an increase in sales of Square Stand and demand for the company's contactless and chip reader in Canada, Square said.
For the current quarter, Wall Street is expecting earnings of eight cents a share with revenue of $271.86 million. Square responded with a Q1 earnings guidance between three cents and five cents a share with revenue between $290 million and $295 million.