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Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Block vs. Upstart: Which Fintech Stock Has More Upside in 2025?
The fintech sector is evolving fast, driven by innovation in digital payments, credit underwriting, and user experience. Two major players — Block, Inc. XYZ and Upstart Holdings UPST — stand out for their disruptive business models and strategic growth initiatives. Block leans into a multi-vertical payments ecosystem through Square and Cash App, while Upstart is reinventing consumer lending using artificial intelligence. As both companies tackle economic headwinds and rising competition, investors are wondering which stock is better positioned for 2025. Below, we explore the merits and limitations of each to help identify the stronger long-term XYZ or UPST, which of these Fintech stocks has the greater upside potential? Let's explore. Block continues to grow its comprehensive fintech platform, with its Square and Cash App ecosystems offering end-to-end solutions across payments, commerce, and banking. The latest innovations like the Square Point of Sale app and the rollout of 'Cash App Afterpay' showcase its commitment to user-centric design and revenue diversification. Block's omnichannel seller tools are helping businesses streamline operations, and its FDIC-approved lending capabilities add depth to its offerings. Cash App is also targeting younger users and families, while the Proto division is eyeing new frontiers in Bitcoin mining hardware, potentially unlocking future growth these innovations, Block faces several headwinds. Macroeconomic uncertainty, including tariffs and weaker discretionary spending in categories like travel and media, is limiting Cash App Card activity. Its gross profit is forecasted to improve later in the year, but the near-term softness is noticeable. Additionally, the company is battling intense competition from PayPal, Shopify, and newer fintech upstarts. While Block has solid momentum and diversified revenue streams, its performance remains sensitive to shifts in consumer behavior and macro conditions, making 2025 a year that could be shaped more by external variables than internal progress. Upstart is gaining traction as a differentiated player in lending by replacing FICO scores with AI-driven credit modeling. Its underwriting engine, which automates 92% of loans, provides not only efficiency but also a better borrower experience. The company's strength lies in its expanding loan portfolio, which now includes auto loans, HELOCs, and small-dollar loans. These categories posted double-digit sequential growth in the first quarter of 2025, reinforcing the company's operational execution and technological AI engine is also evolving. Model 19 introduces payment transition modeling, enhancing its ability to predict borrower behavior. These model upgrades are driving stronger conversion rates, which have risen from 14% to 19% in just a year. Financially, Upstart reported a 67% revenue increase year over year and flipped to profitability with a 30-cent non-GAAP EPS in Q1 2025. Even more impressive is its growing reliance on super-prime borrowers, which reduces risk and improves funding consistency. However, challenges remain — elevated interest rates and a dip in contribution margins are notable — but Upstart's rapid vertical expansion, smarter underwriting, and visible operating leverage suggest a fintech stock on the cusp of durable scale. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Block's 2025 sales and EPS implies year-over-year growth of 3.55% and a decline of 25.22%, respectively. EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been southbound over the past 30 days. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)For Block: Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Upstart's 2025 sales implies year-over-year growth of 58.8%. What is also encouraging is that EPS estimates for 2025 have been trending northward over the past 60 Upstart: Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Year to date, Upstart shares have dropped 11.4%, which is less than the 24.9% decline in the shares of Block. XYZ and UPST Stock's Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Despite the price plunge, XYZ is trading at a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 1.51X, ahead of its one-year median of 1.54X. Meanwhile, UPST is presently trading at a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 4.56X, at a premium to XYZ, but below its one-year median of 5.25X. XYZ and UPST Valuation Image Source: Zacks Investment Research While Block has a proven ecosystem and deep roots in payments, its near-term trajectory is hindered by soft consumer demand and intense competition. Upstart, on the other hand, is showing clearer operating leverage and expanding intelligently into new credit categories with improving AI and funding structures. With strong revenue momentum and rising profitability, Upstart emerges as the fintech with greater upside potential in 2025 for long-term investors seeking innovation-led Upstart has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), making the stock a stronger pick compared with Block, which has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Upstart Holdings, Inc. (UPST) : Free Stock Analysis Report Block, Inc. (XYZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Associated Press
13-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Square Powers Restaurant Growth with New Handheld Device and Next Generation Food and Beverage Platform
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 2025-- Today, Square delivered new hardware and software innovation to help restaurants grow and thrive, including its most powerful, portable point-of-sale device ever and restaurant-specific features and upgrades. Hundreds of thousands of food and beverage sellers have built resilient businesses using Square's refreshingly easy technology to balance scalability and hospitality. These innovations are part of Square Releases, the company's new, twice-yearly product launch that delivers the most important new features and tools, all at once, in a way that's easy for sellers to understand and adopt. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Square debuts its most complete restaurant solution yet, with new, purpose-built hardware and software to drive restaurant efficiency, hospitality, and growth (Photo: Square) Square Handheld is a powerful and pocketable point of sale for all restaurant businesses. For full-service restaurants, it's taking orders tableside or from across the bar, and for quick-service restaurants, that means cutting down on lines during a busy rush. By eliminating unnecessary trips between tables and the counter, Square Handheld enables servers to provide more attentive service and turn tables more efficiently during peak hours, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue. Read more about Square Handheld's advanced features here, which include: 'Square Handheld is powerful, profitable, and predictable. It's sleek and slim, and it gives us 10x the power in the palms of our hands (and our pockets) and helps us to elevate our hospitality in the front of house,' said Chad Sykora, CEO at Krootz Brewing Company in Gainesville, TX. 'It's easy to be hands-free as staff members round corners. Now, they can focus on keeping food steady. Each of our bartenders and servers have been fighting over getting their hands on one!' The newly redesigned, unified Square Point of Sale app lets restaurants get started even faster with Square and allows for greater flexibility selling across different revenue streams. It doesn't matter if a seller is a full-service restaurant, quick-service restaurant, bar or brewery, catering service, or any combination — there are now different, purpose-built modes to meet the specific complex needs of each of these workflows in one single app. This new, unified app encourages business growth, too, with restaurants able to easily add entirely new modes — say, retail — to expand their sales capabilities. And with this shift to a single, consolidated app, Square product velocity is accelerating, meaning food and beverage sellers can expect even more restaurant-specific tools they need to run their business, faster. Out of the box, Square Handheld runs the new Square Point of Sale, which you can read more about here. 'Square has gone big in restaurants, and it shows, with our product velocity accelerating to best meet the needs of new and existing sellers,' said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. 'Square is the technology backbone for restaurants across the world, from neighborhood cafés to national chains — and with this latest release, we're giving single unit and multi-unit restaurants the tools they need to operate efficiently and to thrive in today's dynamic marketplace.' Square is also introducing a number of additional new features for restaurants to streamline service and grow revenue — without sacrificing hospitality: Square is also expanding its comprehensive partner ecosystem to allow sellers the flexibility and modularity to choose the right technology to power their businesses: Try Square Handheld and experience Square's new F&B platform in person. Visit Square at the National Restaurant Association show (Booth #5845) in Chicago from May 17-20, 2025, and don't miss the fireside chat between Ming-Tai Huh and Nick Stone (Chairman, Bluestone Lane) on May 17 at 3:30pm CT at the Innovation Theater. About Square Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit 1 Delivery commission saving is an estimate based on an assumed 30% commission charged by third-party delivery partners on premium plans. 2 Block, Inc. is a financial services platform and not an FDIC-insured bank. FDIC deposit insurance coverage only protects against the failure of an FDIC-insured deposit institution. If you have a Square Checking account, up to $250,000 of your balance may be covered by FDIC insurance on a pass-through basis through Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, subject to aggregation of the account holder's funds held at Sutton Bank and if certain conditions have been met. Square Debit Card is issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard. Funds generated through Square's payment processing services are generally available in the Square Checking account balance immediately after a payment is processed. Fund availability times may vary due to technical issues. View source version on [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA ILLINOIS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: WINE & SPIRITS ONLINE RETAIL TECHNOLOGY PAYMENTS FOOD/BEVERAGE APPS/APPLICATIONS RETAIL SOFTWARE INTERNET HARDWARE RESTAURANT/BAR SOURCE: Block, Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/13/2025 08:58 AM/DISC: 05/13/2025 08:57 AM
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Introducing the Next-Generation Square Point of Sale App – A Single, Unified App to Power Commerce and Growth for Every Seller
Square's market-leading point of sale brings together its deep payments and business operations capabilities for restaurants, retail, services, and more into one consolidated app Now, every seller has a single point of sale app that is easily personalized for all the ways they run their business today, and to support their growth and evolution into the future SAN FRANCISCO, April 24, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Square announced the new Square Point of Sale app – its next-generation software that brings Square's deep vertical-specific commerce and payments functionality into a single, unified app that sellers can personalize to meet the complex needs of their business today, while supporting their business growth and evolution into the future. Sixteen years ago, Square launched its very first mobile card reader and point of sale app to enable any seller to accept digital payments – beginning a journey to empower businesses to thrive in the economy. Through the years, Square partnered with sellers and offered industry-specific software products – Square for Restaurants, Square for Retail, Square Appointments, and Square Invoices – to not only sell from anywhere, but eliminate the many points of friction that come with managing and expanding a business – from creating complex restaurant menus to managing inventory to offering service waitlists, and much more. Today, the business world has changed, and Square's sellers continue to evolve. More than four million sellers now trust Square to run every aspect of their business, enabling them to grow while keeping focus on their craft. They're diversifying their business to reach new customers, create new revenue streams, and connect to their communities in entirely new ways. Breweries are becoming full service restaurants and retailers. Spas are selling home goods and subscription services. With the new Square Point of Sale, all of Square's power and innovation is now available in one single app – making it easier for sellers to discover the tools that are right for their business and expand their features as they grow. From our testing, we found that feature discovery and usage among new sellers grew nearly 80% from the rate on the previous Square POS experience. "We opened two weeks before the pandemic began in 2020, and we've been pivoting and expanding ever since. We started as a plant retailer, expanded into home goods, then added the cafe and the barbershop, and now also host workshops and events," said Lorena Cortez, founder and co-owner of The Mellow, a mercantile, cafe, barbershop, and events space with locations in San Francisco's Mission, Haight, and Union Square districts. "The new Square Point of Sale makes it easy to manage it all, flow between operations, and deliver a great experience. We have a lot of inventory to manage, and Square makes it easy so our team can receive shipment and expedite our ability to get product on the floor. When it comes to selling, whether a customer is getting a beverage or a haircut or a plant, using Square tools lets us focus on the conversation and building a connection." The power and ease of Square Point of Sale resides in its modes – easy-to-understand feature sets, purpose-built for each industry, to give sellers a personalized POS experience that instantly sets them up with the right tools for their business. Sellers can easily add modes to expand their sales capabilities with no limitations on growth, while Square can now ship new features to more sellers at a faster rate. There are currently seven modes available on Square's platform, offering unique technology and feature needs even within verticals: Three Food & Beverage modes let sellers choose highly tailored solutions for their needs: Quick Service mode: Accelerates counter-service operations through intuitive modifier workflows and multi-channel menu management, ensuring swift and accurate order fulfillment at high-volume establishments. Full Service mode: Streamlines complex dining operations with intelligent check management, sophisticated coursing capabilities, and customizable floor plans. Bar mode: Combines smart pre-authorization features with conversational modifier inputs to keep drinks flowing and tabs properly managed throughout busy nights. Retail mode: Handles complex inventory management, varied pricing structures, and multi-location operations to power modern retail businesses. Bookings mode: Seamlessly integrates scheduling, client management, and payment processing into one intuitive system for beauty and wellness businesses. Services mode: Simplifies invoice management, estimates, and on-the-go payments for businesses that operate beyond traditional storefronts, like catering and home repair. Standard mode: Square's classic point-of-sale experience offers ultimate flexibility through its personalizable interface and versatile features. "Square Point of Sale is an all-in-one product that recognizes sellers' needs are not one-size-fits-all," said Willem Ave, Head of Product for Square. "Businesses today have to be resilient, and able to adapt when new challenges – and opportunities – present themselves. With our new app, sellers can do just that – they don't have to choose between breadth or depth; they can have both with Square. We're also able to build innovative new features for sellers of all types and sizes even faster, with less overhead than required for maintaining many separate tools. We can deliver specialized software experiences for unique use cases and complex industries, while maintaining the ease-of-use sellers, their employees, and their customers expect from Square. Running a business is complex, and we make it streamlined and simple, so sellers can spend more time focused on their craft, customers, and communities." Already, Square is showing how seamlessly it can add additional features and value to its Point of Sale app; it will introduce new platform enhancements and modes features in the inaugural Square Releases on May 13. About Square Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts press@ Sign in to access your portfolio
