← Block, Inc.

XYZ · Forward model · Bull case

The Bull case, 20 quarters out

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Verticals are Block's three reported revenue categories - Commerce Enablement, Financial Solutions, Bitcoin Ecosystem - because each carries a disclosed revenue line and a disclosed cost-of-revenue line, so each has a real gross margin, and the three sum to total net revenue to the dollar in 2026 Q2 ($3,341,571K + $1,382,368K + $1,893,748K = $6,617,687K). The reportable segments (Cash App, Square, Corporate and Other) are deliberately NOT used: the 10-Q states the CODM evaluates segments on revenue and gross profit only, so no segment operating profit exists and Square and Cash App cannot be given honest margins. 2025 Q1 and 2026 Q1 are marked estimated because they are derived as six-months less the June quarter, not separately filed; 2025 Q3 and Q4 come from the shareholder letter's $1M-precision table. Operating expense is not split by category either, so it stays as one corporate overhead line. That line is set at 34.98% of revenue, the derived Q2 2026 figure that ties out exactly - gross profit $3,166M plus $13M of acquired-technology amortization less $2,315M of non-GAAP operating expenses equals the reported $864M of Adjusted Operating Income - and the model's first projected quarter lands at 28.0% of gross profit against the guided 28%. The honest cost of holding it flat is real and is the largest distortion in this model: Block's opex actually scales with gross profit, not with revenue, and revenue contains a shrinking 29% slice of near-zero-margin bitcoin, so the base case drifts to 34.7% of gross profit in 2028 against the roughly 29% Block's own 2028 outlook implies, and 38.4% by 2031 Q2. It was left at the tie-out value rather than raised, because raising it to the 38.0% that would land 2028 on 29% makes the model print $713M in Q3 2026 against a guided $875M - breaking the quarter it is built from to fit an extrapolation. The vertical margins are gross margins BEFORE credit losses: $585.5M of transaction, loan and consumer receivable losses in Q2 2026 sit in operating expenses and are inside the overhead line, which is why the 93.2% on Financial Solutions is not a contribution margin. The lending capital programme is recoverable working capital, so free cash flow here reads closer to Block's Non-GAAP Cash Flow than to its GAAP Free Cash Flow. All three verticals were tested for seasonality and all three were left aseasonal; the derivation and the reason are in each vertical's first note.

The volume side re-accelerates while the cost base stays where the February reorganisation left it. Square's US recovery is real, Afterpay attach keeps lifting the Cash App monetization rate, Borrow scales into a bigger eligible base, and bitcoin stops shrinking as a share of revenue so reported growth and real growth converge. The multiple re-rates to 2.2x revenue. What this case does not claim is that anything changes about the credit book.

XYZ REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $13.06B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2025Q1 $5.77B
2025Q2 $6.05B
2025Q3 $6.12B
2025Q4 $6.25B
2026Q1 $6.06B
2026Q2 $6.62B
2026Q3E $6.81B
2026Q4E $7.02B
2027Q1E $7.24B
2027Q2E $7.49B
2027Q3E $7.75B
2027Q4E $8.03B
2028Q1E $8.33B
2028Q2E $8.64B
2028Q3E $8.98B
2028Q4E $9.33B
2029Q1E $9.71B
2029Q2E $10.11B
2029Q3E $10.53B
2029Q4E $10.97B
2030Q1E $11.41B
2030Q2E $11.72B
2030Q3E $12.03B
2030Q4E $12.36B
2031Q1E $12.70B
2031Q2E $13.06B

What drives each segment

Commerce Enablement

Units × price
Basis quarter$3.34B
Final quarter$7.85B
Implied CAGR+19%
Share of revenue, final quarter60%
PV of segment cash flow$44.12B

The take rate on everything Block moves: Square payments, point-of-sale software and hardware, Cash App Card and Cash App Pay, Afterpay BNPL, Cash App Business and TIDAL. Half of Block's revenue and 57% of its gross profit, and the line where the cost-cutting story has to reappear as volume rather than as savings.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $3.00B Reported
2025 Q4 $3.05B Reported
2026 Q1 $2.94B Estimated
2026 Q2 $3.34B Reported
Square payments and point-of-sale softwareSquare hardwareCash App Card and Cash App PayAfterpay Pay in 4, Pre-Purchase and Post-PurchaseCash App Business accountsTIDAL and other emerging ecosystems
Units 129348/qtr growing +3.5% per quarter Square GPV $72,848M plus Cash App enablement volume $56,500M = $129,348M in Q2 2026. One unit is $1M of volume.
Price per unit $25834 drifting -0.2% per quarter $3,341.6M of revenue on $129,348M of volume is a 2.583% blended take rate. Q2 2025 was 2.575%.
Commerce Enablement

Latest: $7.85B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2025Q1 $2.57B
2025Q2 $2.90B
2025Q3 $3.00B
2025Q4 $3.05B
2026Q1 $2.94B
2026Q2 $3.34B
2026Q3E $3.48B
2026Q4E $3.63B
2027Q1E $3.79B
2027Q2E $3.95B
2027Q3E $4.12B
2027Q4E $4.30B
2028Q1E $4.49B
2028Q2E $4.69B
2028Q3E $4.89B
2028Q4E $5.10B
2029Q1E $5.33B
2029Q2E $5.56B
2029Q3E $5.81B
2029Q4E $6.06B
2030Q1E $6.33B
2030Q2E $6.60B
2030Q3E $6.90B
2030Q4E $7.20B
2031Q1E $7.52B
2031Q2E $7.85B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • SEASONALITY: none applied, and the evidence cannot support any. Ratio-to-centred-four-quarter-moving-average on the six disclosed quarters yields a factor for 2025 Q3 (1.025) and 2025 Q4 (1.008) and nothing at all for Q1 or Q2, because a centred window needs two quarters either side. One window per factor means the window-to-window spread is not even measurable, so two of the four factors would be invented outright. Left ASEASONAL. Derived from the actuals in this vertical.
  • The volume denominator is ours, not Block's. It sums Square GPV and Cash App Commerce Enablement volume, two separately disclosed pools that can overlap where Cash App Pay or Afterpay is spent at a Square seller. That makes the 2.583% a modelling construct - but it has moved less than one basis point in a year, so it is a stable one.
  • From Q1 2026 Cash App Commerce Enablement volume includes Tap to Pay GPV inside Cash App Business GPV and Block did not recast prior periods. The 2025-to-2026 volume comparison is therefore not clean, which is a second reason no seasonal shape was fitted across that break.
  • Q2 2026 Commerce Enablement gross profit grew 18% year over year 'led by strength in Cash App'. Square's 13% gross-profit growth included 'approximately two points' from a one-time tariff reimbursement, roughly offsetting the lapping of a network remediation payment a year earlier.
  • Neighborhoods reached sellers representing $1 billion of annualised GPV as of June, 'up over 220% from March', with over 90% of recent auto-enabled cohorts staying enabled. It is a customer-acquisition channel, not a revenue line, so it shows up here only as volume.

Financial Solutions

Units × price
Basis quarter$1.38B
Final quarter$3.23B
Implied CAGR+19%
Share of revenue, final quarter25%
PV of segment cash flow$33.56B

Lending and money movement: Cash App Borrow, Afterpay Post-Purchase, Square Loans, Instant Deposit, Square Card and interest income. The fastest line in the company at 43% gross-profit growth in Q2 2026, and the one whose real economics live in a loss line that sits outside cost of revenue.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $1.09B Reported
2025 Q4 $1.22B Reported
2026 Q1 $1.32B Estimated
2026 Q2 $1.38B Reported
Cash App BorrowAfterpay Post-Purchase and Pay MonthlySquare Loans originated by Square Financial ServicesInstant Deposit and Instant PaySquare Card and the Square credit cardInterest income and brokerage
Units 18900/qtr growing +6.0% per quarter Cash App consumer lending origination volume was $18.9B in Q2 2026, up 59% year over year. One unit is $1M originated.
Price per unit $73142 drifting -2.0% per quarter $1,382.4M of revenue on $18,900M originated is $73,142 per $1M. Q2 2025 was $82,735, Q1 2026 $75,113.
Financial Solutions

Latest: $3.23B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2025Q1 $875M
2025Q2 $985M
2025Q3 $1.09B
2025Q4 $1.22B
2026Q1 $1.32B
2026Q2 $1.38B
2026Q3E $1.45B
2026Q4E $1.52B
2027Q1E $1.61B
2027Q2E $1.69B
2027Q3E $1.79B
2027Q4E $1.89B
2028Q1E $2.00B
2028Q2E $2.11B
2028Q3E $2.24B
2028Q4E $2.37B
2029Q1E $2.52B
2029Q2E $2.67B
2029Q3E $2.84B
2029Q4E $3.01B
2030Q1E $3.18B
2030Q2E $3.19B
2030Q3E $3.20B
2030Q4E $3.21B
2031Q1E $3.22B
2031Q2E $3.23B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • SEASONALITY: none applied. Ratio-to-centred-four-quarter-moving-average on the six disclosed revenue quarters gives 0.995 for 2025 Q3 and 1.014 for 2025 Q4 and no observation for Q1 or Q2; on the six disclosed origination quarters it gives 0.944 and 1.137. Those two readings of the same line disagree by 12 points on Q4, each rests on a single window, and this line grew 40% over the same six quarters, so the ratios are measuring a ramp rather than a season. Left ASEASONAL. Derived from the actuals and origination history in this vertical.
  • The 93.2% gross margin is BEFORE credit losses. Transaction, loan and consumer receivable losses of $585.5M in Q2 2026 - up 99% year over year - sit in operating expenses and are carried by the corporate overhead line. Read the two together or this vertical reads like a software business.
  • The unit price blends Square's financial solutions revenue ($305M in Q2 2026) into a denominator that counts only Cash App consumer lending originations, because Square Loans origination volume is not disclosed quarterly. It is a reproducible blended rate, not a disclosed take rate, and it moves with Cash App / Square mix as well as with pricing.
  • Originations grew 59% while lending product balances barely moved, from $6,836M at 31 December 2025 to $6,928M at 30 June 2026. That is Borrow's four-to-six week tenor turning over several times a quarter, which is exactly why originations rather than balance is the right volume.
  • Block expects the loss line to behave: 'we continue to expect year-over-year growth in transaction, loan, and consumer receivable losses to moderate through the remainder of 2026'. Square Financial Services began taking high-yield seller deposits and processed its first Square acquiring transaction in June, which over time reduces the external capital this line needs.

Bitcoin Ecosystem

Growth path
Basis quarter$1.89B
Final quarter$1.98B
Implied CAGR+1%
Share of revenue, final quarter15%
PV of segment cash flow$1.11B

Bitcoin bought by Cash App customers, booked gross. $1,894M of revenue produced $72M of gross profit in Q2 2026 - a 3.8% margin on 29% of the company's revenue. It exists in this model to keep the revenue reconciliation honest and to explain why Block's reported growth rate understates the business it actually runs.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $2.02B Reported
2025 Q4 $1.98B Reported
2026 Q1 $1.80B Estimated
2026 Q2 $1.89B Reported
Customer purchases of bitcoin within Cash AppBitcoin withdrawal feesProto mining hardware and Bitkey
Sequential growth -2.0%/qtr decaying toward +0.0% Revenue fell 12.8% year over year on lower trading volume and a deliberately cut fee. -2% a quarter continues that, slower.
Bitcoin Ecosystem

Latest: $1.98B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2025Q1 $2.33B
2025Q2 $2.17B
2025Q3 $2.02B
2025Q4 $1.98B
2026Q1 $1.80B
2026Q2 $1.89B
2026Q3E $1.87B
2026Q4E $1.86B
2027Q1E $1.85B
2027Q2E $1.84B
2027Q3E $1.84B
2027Q4E $1.84B
2028Q1E $1.84B
2028Q2E $1.84B
2028Q3E $1.85B
2028Q4E $1.85B
2029Q1E $1.86B
2029Q2E $1.87B
2029Q3E $1.88B
2029Q4E $1.89B
2030Q1E $1.91B
2030Q2E $1.92B
2030Q3E $1.93B
2030Q4E $1.95B
2031Q1E $1.96B
2031Q2E $1.98B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • SEASONALITY: none applied. Ratio-to-centred-four-quarter-moving-average gives 0.982 for 2025 Q3 and 1.011 for 2025 Q4, both within 2% of one and each from a single window, with no observation at all for Q1 or Q2. Bitcoin revenue is the bitcoin price times Cash App trading volume; neither has a calendar. Left ASEASONAL. Derived from the actuals in this vertical.
  • The 10-K states the accounting plainly: 'The sale amounts received from our customers are recorded as revenue on a gross basis and the associated bitcoin cost as cost of revenues, as we are the principal in the bitcoin sale transaction.'
  • The 10-K also sizes the distortion: 'the bitcoin ecosystem contributed 35% and 43% of the total revenue in 2025 and 2024, respectively, gross profit generated from the bitcoin ecosystem was only 4% and 5% of the total gross profit'. By Q2 2026 it was 28.6% of revenue and 2.3% of gross profit.
  • This one line is why the R40 house Rule of 40 reads about 20 for a company whose gross profit grew 25% and whose Adjusted Operating Income grew 57%. Every percentage point this line shrinks lifts blended gross margin without anything real happening.
  • Block's own $533.9M bitcoin investment - 9,117 bitcoins at 30 June 2026 - is a balance-sheet item, not this line. Its remeasurement runs below operating income, an $88.5M loss in Q2 2026, and is excluded from Adjusted Operating Income.
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters$16.33B
Terminal-year revenue$50.15B
Terminal-year EBITDA$11.48B
Exit multiple, on revenue2.2x
Terminal value$110.34B
Discounted at 11.0% a year, terminal value becomes$65.48B
Enterprise value$81.81B
Net cash$2.18B
Equity value$83.99B
Shares0.61B
Fair value per share$137.95
Against the current price of $84.85+63%

At $83.10 on 26 August 2026 the enterprise value of about $48.4B is 1.9x trailing revenue, 3.9x guided FY2026 gross profit of $12.51B and 20.7x guided FY2026 Adjusted Diluted EPS of $4.02. EV/revenue is close to meaningless against payment peers because roughly 29% of Block's revenue is gross-recognised bitcoin, so 1.8x revenue is chosen as about 3.5x terminal gross profit - a de-rate from today's 3.9x. No peer multiples are asserted because none were verified to a primary source. The exit multiple is the input that moves this answer most: the terminal value is 77% of enterprise value in the base case.

Read the other way round: at $84.85 the market is paying 1.1x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Capital programmes

Capex outside the verticals

Each vertical's capex is a share of its own revenue, which is the right shape for capacity that scales with sales. These are not that: fixed-size programmes with their own schedule that spend whether or not any segment grows. They are added on top, and they are why free cash flow dips in the years below.

Lending capital deployment

2026 Q3 → 2031 Q2
Programme total$9.00B
Cash out$450M/qtr

Block disclosed that it 'deployed $1.8 billion in capital to grow our lending products over the last 12 months' - $450M a quarter - and that is the gap between GAAP Free Cash Flow (TTM $3,882M) and Non-GAAP Cash Flow (TTM $1,267M). Held flat for the horizon as an assumed extension of a disclosed trailing figure. It is recoverable working capital, not sunk capex, so the free cash flow this model prints is closer to Block's Non-GAAP Cash Flow than to its GAAP Free Cash Flow.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

Quarter Commerce EnablementFinancial SolutionsBitcoin Ecosystem Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2026 Q3E $3.48B$1.45B$1.87B $6.81B +11% $996M $504M $378M +17 $368M
2026 Q4E $3.63B$1.52B$1.86B $7.02B +12% $1.08B $506M $440M +19 $417M
2027 Q1E $3.79B$1.61B$1.85B $7.24B +20% $1.16B $508M $505M +27 $467M
2027 Q2E $3.95B$1.69B$1.84B $7.49B +13% $1.25B $510M $572M +21 $516M
2027 Q3E $4.12B$1.79B$1.84B $7.75B +14% $1.35B $512M $644M +22 $565M
2027 Q4E $4.30B$1.89B$1.84B $8.03B +14% $1.45B $514M $719M +23 $615M
2028 Q1E $4.49B$2.00B$1.84B $8.33B +15% $1.55B $517M $799M +25 $665M
2028 Q2E $4.69B$2.11B$1.84B $8.64B +15% $1.67B $519M $882M +26 $716M
2028 Q3E $4.89B$2.24B$1.85B $8.98B +16% $1.78B $522M $971M +27 $768M
2028 Q4E $5.10B$2.37B$1.85B $9.33B +16% $1.91B $525M $1.06B +28 $820M
2029 Q1E $5.33B$2.52B$1.86B $9.71B +17% $2.04B $528M $1.16B +29 $873M
2029 Q2E $5.56B$2.67B$1.87B $10.11B +17% $2.18B $531M $1.27B +29 $928M
2029 Q3E $5.81B$2.84B$1.88B $10.53B +17% $2.33B $534M $1.38B +30 $983M
2029 Q4E $6.06B$3.01B$1.89B $10.97B +18% $2.48B $538M $1.50B +31 $1.04B
2030 Q1E $6.33B$3.18B$1.91B $11.41B +18% $2.64B $541M $1.61B +32 $1.09B
2030 Q2E $6.60B$3.19B$1.92B $11.72B +16% $2.70B $544M $1.66B +30 $1.09B
2030 Q3E $6.90B$3.20B$1.93B $12.03B +14% $2.76B $546M $1.71B +28 $1.10B
2030 Q4E $7.20B$3.21B$1.95B $12.36B +13% $2.83B $549M $1.76B +27 $1.10B
2031 Q1E $7.52B$3.22B$1.96B $12.70B +11% $2.90B $552M $1.81B +26 $1.10B
2031 Q2E $7.85B$3.23B$1.98B $13.06B +11% $2.98B $554M $1.87B +26 $1.11B

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateChangedFair value thenNote
2026-08-27 verticals, corporate, valuation, scenarios $98.10 Model created from the verified 2026 Q2 research brief. Three verticals are the three revenue categories on the face of the income statement, which sum exactly to total net revenue. All three lines were tested for seasonality by ratio to a centred four-quarter moving average and all three were left aseasonal: six disclosed quarters yield one window for Q3 and one for Q4 and none for Q1 or Q2, so there is no spread to measure and two of the four factors would have to be invented.