At least two major banks walked away from Squareâs Q4 earnings report with diverging viewpoints on which direction the payments companyâs share price, which was at about $256 at the time of the companyâs earnings release Tuesday afternoon, will head next, according to investor notes viewed by CoinDesk.
Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) gave 19% upside for SQ and upgraded its price target to $305 from $257, predicting the company would âoutperformâ (roughly equivalent to buy). But their peers at Goldman Sachs, which rates SQ a âneutral,â took the opposite perspective, notching a 4% downside that would put SQ at $246 this time next year.
(Goldmanâs rating actually was a slight upgrade from a Feb. 23 âfirst-takeâ investor note that targeted SQ at $216.)
RBC noted âmanagementâs commitment to bitcoin as the currency of the internetâ and was bullish on Squareâs capitalization of a âmulti ecosystem opportunity.â It estimated a 69% jump in 2021 bitcoin revenue that would generate Square $7.75 billion. Goldman was largely mum on the bitcoin upside, downgrading bitcoin revenue estimates for 2021 to $7.23 billion from $7.43 billion.
Even so âthe margins on bitcoin revenues has continued to expand,â Goldmanâs analysts wrote.
Squareâs Cash App generated $4.57 billion in bitcoin revenue in FY2020, contributing $97 million to gross profit.