By Dean Seal

Block raised its annual earnings outlook after a strong performance from CashApp and its Square payment devices boosted the company's gross profit for the first quarter.

The fintech company now expects adjusted earnings of $3.85 a share this year, a 62% uplift from 2025. Back in February, it set the target at $3.66 a share. The outlook calls for earnings to hit 86 cents a share in the current quarter. That's 4 cents higher than the forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Shares climbed 9% to $76.31 after hours.

The upbeat view comes after transaction volumes processed through Square climbed 13% in the first quarter. The consumer-lending feature on Cash App was a hit as well, with origination volume growing by 82% from a year earlier.

Block swung to a loss of $309 million, or 52 cents a share, from a profit of $190 million, or 30 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. While gross profit grew 27%, operating costs grew more sharply at 57%.

But stripping out one-time items, including restructuring charges tied to mass layoffs earlier this year, adjusted earnings were 85 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting 68 cents a share. Revenue jumped nearly 5% to $6.06 billion, topping projections.

"A significantly smaller team, using the tools we are building, can do more and do it better," Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders.

Write to Dean at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 07, 2026 16:51 ET (20:51 GMT)

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