XYZ · Forward model · Investor Day case
The Investor Day 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 19 November 2025 outlook priced exactly as published, with no new number invented. Slowing revenue 1.09% a quarter against base puts FY2028 gross profit at $15.80B, the anchor itself, and values the stock at $81.19 - within 3% of the $83.10 close. That is the tension: the $15.8B was set off a 2026 base of $11.98B, and FY2026 is now guided at $12.51B, so holding the anchor implies a 12.4% gross-profit CAGR from here against 21% this year. What this case does NOT achieve is the matching $4.6B of 2028 Adjusted Operating Income: it prints $5.48B, because this model can only express overhead as a flat share of revenue and cannot bend the cost path the way a 29% margin on gross profit would require.
Latest: $8.60B (2031Q2E)
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025Q1 | $5.77B |
| 2025Q2 | $6.05B |
| 2025Q3 | $6.12B |
| 2025Q4 | $6.25B |
| 2026Q1 | $6.06B |
| 2026Q2 | $6.62B |
| 2026Q3E | $6.67B |
| 2026Q4E | $6.73B |
| 2027Q1E | $6.80B |
| 2027Q2E | $6.89B |
| 2027Q3E | $6.98B |
| 2027Q4E | $7.08B |
| 2028Q1E | $7.19B |
| 2028Q2E | $7.31B |
| 2028Q3E | $7.44B |
| 2028Q4E | $7.57B |
| 2029Q1E | $7.71B |
| 2029Q2E | $7.86B |
| 2029Q3E | $8.02B |
| 2029Q4E | $8.18B |
| 2030Q1E | $8.34B |
| 2030Q2E | $8.38B |
| 2030Q3E | $8.43B |
| 2030Q4E | $8.48B |
| 2031Q1E | $8.54B |
| 2031Q2E | $8.60B |
What drives each segment
Commerce Enablement
Units × priceThe 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.
Latest: $5.17B (2031Q2E)
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025Q1 | $2.57B |
| 2025Q2 | $2.90B |
| 2025Q3 | $3.00B |
| 2025Q4 | $3.05B |
| 2026Q1 | $2.94B |
| 2026Q2 | $3.34B |
| 2026Q3E | $3.41B |
| 2026Q4E | $3.49B |
| 2027Q1E | $3.56B |
| 2027Q2E | $3.64B |
| 2027Q3E | $3.72B |
| 2027Q4E | $3.80B |
| 2028Q1E | $3.88B |
| 2028Q2E | $3.96B |
| 2028Q3E | $4.05B |
| 2028Q4E | $4.14B |
| 2029Q1E | $4.23B |
| 2029Q2E | $4.33B |
| 2029Q3E | $4.42B |
| 2029Q4E | $4.52B |
| 2030Q1E | $4.62B |
| 2030Q2E | $4.73B |
| 2030Q3E | $4.83B |
| 2030Q4E | $4.94B |
| 2031Q1E | $5.05B |
| 2031Q2E | $5.17B |
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 × priceLending 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.
Latest: $2.13B (2031Q2E)
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025Q1 | $875M |
| 2025Q2 | $985M |
| 2025Q3 | $1.09B |
| 2025Q4 | $1.22B |
| 2026Q1 | $1.32B |
| 2026Q2 | $1.38B |
| 2026Q3E | $1.42B |
| 2026Q4E | $1.46B |
| 2027Q1E | $1.51B |
| 2027Q2E | $1.56B |
| 2027Q3E | $1.61B |
| 2027Q4E | $1.67B |
| 2028Q1E | $1.72B |
| 2028Q2E | $1.79B |
| 2028Q3E | $1.86B |
| 2028Q4E | $1.93B |
| 2029Q1E | $2.00B |
| 2029Q2E | $2.08B |
| 2029Q3E | $2.16B |
| 2029Q4E | $2.25B |
| 2030Q1E | $2.33B |
| 2030Q2E | $2.28B |
| 2030Q3E | $2.24B |
| 2030Q4E | $2.20B |
| 2031Q1E | $2.17B |
| 2031Q2E | $2.13B |
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 pathBitcoin 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.
Latest: $1.30B (2031Q2E)
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025Q1 | $2.33B |
| 2025Q2 | $2.17B |
| 2025Q3 | $2.02B |
| 2025Q4 | $1.98B |
| 2026Q1 | $1.80B |
| 2026Q2 | $1.89B |
| 2026Q3E | $1.84B |
| 2026Q4E | $1.78B |
| 2027Q1E | $1.74B |
| 2027Q2E | $1.69B |
| 2027Q3E | $1.66B |
| 2027Q4E | $1.62B |
| 2028Q1E | $1.59B |
| 2028Q2E | $1.56B |
| 2028Q3E | $1.53B |
| 2028Q4E | $1.50B |
| 2029Q1E | $1.48B |
| 2029Q2E | $1.46B |
| 2029Q3E | $1.43B |
| 2029Q4E | $1.41B |
| 2030Q1E | $1.39B |
| 2030Q2E | $1.37B |
| 2030Q3E | $1.35B |
| 2030Q4E | $1.34B |
| 2031Q1E | $1.32B |
| 2031Q2E | $1.30B |
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.
Where each case comes from
Investor Day case — primary sources
The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Investor Day column is what happens if they are taken at face value.
The three-year outlook
- Nov 19, 2025 Expect to achieve Rule of 40 in 2026 and sustain through 2028, with gross profit expected to grow in the mid-teens range annually through 2028, reaching approximately $15.8 billion.
- Nov 19, 2025 Block unveils 3-year outlook, sees gross profit in 2028 of $15.8B, with adjusted operating income projected to grow about 30% annually to $4.6 billion.
From cash flow to fair value
| Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters | $10.88B |
| Terminal-year revenue | $34.05B |
| Terminal-year EBITDA | $7.45B |
| Exit multiple, on revenue | 1.8x |
| Terminal value | $61.29B |
| Discounted at 11.0% a year, terminal value becomes | $36.37B |
| Enterprise value | $47.25B |
| Net cash | $2.18B |
| Equity value | $49.43B |
| Shares | 0.61B |
| Fair value per share | $81.19 |
| Against the current price of $84.85 | -4% |
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 1.9x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.
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 Q2Block 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.
The projected path
| Quarter | Commerce Enablement | Financial Solutions | Bitcoin Ecosystem | Revenue | YoY | EBITDA | Capex | FCF | R40 | PV of FCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q3E | $3.41B | $1.42B | $1.84B | $6.67B | +9% | $908M | $503M | $312M | +14 | $304M |
| 2026 Q4E | $3.49B | $1.46B | $1.78B | $6.73B | +8% | $966M | $504M | $356M | +13 | $338M |
| 2027 Q1E | $3.56B | $1.51B | $1.74B | $6.80B | +12% | $1.02B | $504M | $400M | +18 | $370M |
| 2027 Q2E | $3.64B | $1.56B | $1.69B | $6.89B | +4% | $1.08B | $505M | $446M | +11 | $402M |
| 2027 Q3E | $3.72B | $1.61B | $1.66B | $6.98B | +5% | $1.14B | $506M | $492M | +12 | $432M |
| 2027 Q4E | $3.80B | $1.67B | $1.62B | $7.08B | +5% | $1.21B | $507M | $539M | +13 | $461M |
| 2028 Q1E | $3.88B | $1.72B | $1.59B | $7.19B | +6% | $1.27B | $508M | $587M | +14 | $489M |
| 2028 Q2E | $3.96B | $1.79B | $1.56B | $7.31B | +6% | $1.34B | $508M | $637M | +15 | $517M |
| 2028 Q3E | $4.05B | $1.86B | $1.53B | $7.44B | +7% | $1.40B | $509M | $688M | +16 | $544M |
| 2028 Q4E | $4.14B | $1.93B | $1.50B | $7.57B | +7% | $1.47B | $511M | $740M | +17 | $570M |
| 2029 Q1E | $4.23B | $2.00B | $1.48B | $7.71B | +7% | $1.54B | $512M | $794M | +18 | $596M |
| 2029 Q2E | $4.33B | $2.08B | $1.46B | $7.86B | +8% | $1.62B | $513M | $850M | +18 | $621M |
| 2029 Q3E | $4.42B | $2.16B | $1.43B | $8.02B | +8% | $1.69B | $514M | $907M | +19 | $646M |
| 2029 Q4E | $4.52B | $2.25B | $1.41B | $8.18B | +8% | $1.77B | $515M | $966M | +20 | $671M |
| 2030 Q1E | $4.62B | $2.33B | $1.39B | $8.34B | +8% | $1.84B | $517M | $1.02B | +20 | $690M |
| 2030 Q2E | $4.73B | $2.28B | $1.37B | $8.38B | +7% | $1.85B | $517M | $1.02B | +19 | $675M |
| 2030 Q3E | $4.83B | $2.24B | $1.35B | $8.43B | +5% | $1.85B | $517M | $1.03B | +17 | $660M |
| 2030 Q4E | $4.94B | $2.20B | $1.34B | $8.48B | +4% | $1.86B | $518M | $1.03B | +16 | $646M |
| 2031 Q1E | $5.05B | $2.17B | $1.32B | $8.54B | +2% | $1.87B | $518M | $1.04B | +15 | $633M |
| 2031 Q2E | $5.17B | $2.13B | $1.30B | $8.60B | +3% | $1.88B | $519M | $1.04B | +15 | $620M |
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.
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.
| Date | Changed | Fair value then | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |