Data as of:
LIVE
SQ
Block, Inc. · Financials
N/A
N/A this month
VERSUS
COMPARE
V
Visa Inc. · Financials
$368.29
+0.75% this month
Comparison scoreboard
MIXED SETUPAI Scorei
SQ N/A
V 51.3
1Y Returni
SQ N/A
V +8.90%
Fwd P/Ei
SQ N/A
V 25.43
Target Up.i
SQ N/A
V +9.51%
Op. Margini
SQ N/A
V 66.13%
Metrics last refreshed: 9/21/2026
Quick take
SQ vs V Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Block (Square) and Visa operate at different layers of the payment stack. Block is a fintech platform building financial services for merchants and consumers — running on top of Visa's network. Visa is the underlying network infrastructure that Block's Cash App Card transactions travel through. They compete indirectly at the margin (Block encourages peer-to-peer payments that bypass card networks), but primarily serve complementary roles: Visa as network infrastructure, Block as application layer.
SQ vs V is the fintech ecosystem builder with Cash App consumer platform and Square merchant services competing in financial services (Block) versus the payment network infrastructure that Block's own transactions run on — a fintech application vs the network rails the application depends upon.
Live analysis · updated 9/21/2026
SQ and V are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.
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Normalized 1Y performance
SQ
V
Not enough data to chart yet.
Recent returns
SQ
V
Analyst price targets & sentiment
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
SQ
Price target data unavailable
N/A
V · 40 analysts
STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL
Buy (1.7/5.0)
36 Buy / 3 Hold / 1 Sell
Price target range
analyst low$289.00
analyst high$425.00
analyst mean$417.90
current price$368.29
+9.5% upside to analyst mean
Who should consider this stock?
SQ may suit investors who:
- prefer fintech ecosystem building with Cash App consumer financial services platform growing toward a comprehensive financial services super-app for underbanked populations
- value Square's merchant vertical integration providing POS, loans, payroll, and banking for small businesses in a more complete business operating system than pure payment processing
- want higher-growth fintech exposure with more upside potential than Visa's mature, slower-growing network — Block's ARPU expansion is a significant growth driver
- are comfortable with intense P2P payment competition from Venmo and Zelle, lower profitability vs Visa's extraordinary margin profile, and Bitcoin revenue volatility from Cash App crypto activity
V may suit investors who:
- prefer the payment network infrastructure with two-sided moat effects making Visa the default card acceptance standard globally — among the most durable competitive advantages in any industry
- value Visa's extraordinary margin profile — asset-light pure network business generating fee income without credit risk
- want reliable payment volume growth compounding as global commerce and tourism expands and cash continues converting to digital payments
- are comfortable with slower growth rates than Block and lower fintech innovation exposure in exchange for Visa's exceptional moat quality and capital returns
Performance & AI score
| Metric | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | N/A | 51.3 |
| AI ranki | N/A | #462 |
| Latest closei | N/A | $368.29 |
| 1M returni | N/A | +0.75% |
| 6M returni | N/A | +22.88% |
| 1Y returni | N/A | +8.90% |
$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | N/A | $10.89K (+8.9%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | N/A | $17.72K (+77.2%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | N/A | $50.5K (+405.0%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
Valuation & upside potential
| Metric | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | N/A | $712.47B |
| Trailing P/Ei | N/A | 32.48 |
| Forward P/Ei | N/A | 25.43 |
| Price/Salesi | 2.46 | 18.85 |
| EV/Revenuei | N/A | 16.00 |
| Analyst targeti | N/A | $417.90 |
| Target upsidei | N/A | +9.51% |
Growth, profitability & risk
| Metric | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | N/A | 14.40% |
| Earnings growthi | N/A | 10.20% |
| EPS growthi | N/A | +10.20% |
| FCF margini | N/A | +45.86% |
| Operating margini | N/A | 66.13% |
| Profit margini | N/A | 50.78% |
| ROIC proxyi | N/A | 61.19% |
| Return on equityi | N/A | 61.19% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 0.70% |
| Payout ratioi | N/A | 22.13% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.54 | 0.76 |
| Debt/equityi | N/A | 67.82 |
| Current ratioi | N/A | 0.98 |
| Quick ratioi | N/A | 0.63 |
Drawdown & downside risk
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
1Y risk snapshot
SQ max drawdowniN/A
V max drawdowni17.35%
SQ max wkly dropiN/A
V max wkly dropi8.30%
5Y risk snapshot
SQ max drawdowniN/A
V max drawdowni24.14%
SQ max wkly dropiN/A
V max wkly dropi11.76%
10Y risk snapshot
SQ max drawdowniN/A
V max drawdowni36.36%
SQ max wkly dropiN/A
V max wkly dropi16.49%
Performance metrics by period
| Period | Metric | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | N/A | +8.90% |
| CAGRi | N/A | +8.91% | |
| Volatilityi | N/A | 21.94% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | N/A | 0.29 | |
| Sortino ratioi | N/A | 0.45 | |
| Max drawdowni | N/A | 17.35% | |
| Current drawdowni | N/A | 4.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | N/A | 6.24% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | N/A | 7.87% | |
| Max daily dropi | N/A | 4.50% | |
| Max wkly dropi | N/A | 8.30% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | N/A | +72.15% |
| CAGRi | N/A | +11.49% | |
| Volatilityi | N/A | 22.94% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | N/A | 0.39 | |
| Sortino ratioi | N/A | 0.57 | |
| Max drawdowni | N/A | 24.14% | |
| Current drawdowni | N/A | 4.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | N/A | 6.74% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | N/A | 8.63% | |
| Max daily dropi | N/A | 7.74% | |
| Max wkly dropi | N/A | 11.76% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | N/A | +374.36% |
| CAGRi | N/A | +16.85% | |
| Volatilityi | N/A | 24.49% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | N/A | 0.58 | |
| Sortino ratioi | N/A | 0.83 | |
| Max drawdowni | N/A | 36.36% | |
| Current drawdowni | N/A | 4.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | N/A | 6.36% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | N/A | 8.91% | |
| Max daily dropi | N/A | 13.55% | |
| Max wkly dropi | N/A | 16.49% |
Business comparison
| Category | SQ | V |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Block, Inc. | Visa Inc. |
| Sector | Financials | Financial Services |
| Industry | N/A | Credit Services |
| Core business | Block (formerly Square) operates two main platforms: Square for merchants (point-of-sale hardware, payment processing, loans, payroll, banking) and Cash App for consumers (peer-to-peer payments, debit card, investing, Bitcoin). Block's ecosystem approach connects merchant sellers and consumer buyers. Cash App's 57M+ monthly transacting users engage in P2P payments, spend on Cash App Card, invest in stocks, and buy/sell Bitcoin. Block runs its own payment processing on top of card networks, not a separate network itself. | Visa is the world's largest payment network infrastructure company. Block actually uses Visa's network when Cash App Card users make purchases — Block is a payments application built on top of Visa and Mastercard rails, not a competing network. Visa's two-sided network effect (merchants accept Visa because cardholders have Visa; cardholders use Visa because merchants accept it) is among the strongest competitive moats in any industry. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Cash App gross profit growth, Square seller ecosystem gross profit, Cash App monthly active users and ARPU expansion, and Block's broader financial services revenue from lending and banking services. | Investors track payment volume, cross-border volume (highest margin), value-added services revenue growth, and new payment flows (Visa Direct real-time push payments) expanding Visa's addressable payment types. |
SQ strengths
- Cash App's 57M+ monthly users represent a high-engagement financial services platform — P2P payments drive daily engagement that traditional banks cannot match
- Square's vertical software integration (Square for Restaurants, Square for Retail) creates stickier merchant relationships beyond pure payment processing
- Bitcoin services (buy/sell through Cash App, Lightning Network) position Block in cryptocurrency with actual user adoption rather than speculative positioning
V strengths
- 100M+ merchant acceptance locations globally with 4.3B cardholders — the most accepted payment standard in the world
- Asset-light model generating high-margin fee income on transaction volume without credit risk exposure
- Cross-border transaction fees recovering with international travel normalization — Visa's highest-margin revenue recovering to above-pandemic levels
Risks to watch — SQ
- Cash App monetization per user remains lower than traditional banks — converting P2P payment users into profitable financial services customers is gradual
- Venmo (PayPal), Zelle (banks), and Apple Pay Cash compete directly with Cash App's core P2P payment use case
- Square's merchant ecosystem faces competition from Stripe, Shopify Payments, and Toast in vertical markets — payment processing competition is intense across all segments
Risks to watch — V
- Real-time payment alternatives (FedNow, UPI, PIX) create government-operated payment rails that reduce the need for card networks in some markets
- Fintech applications like Block's Cash App and PayPal encourage P2P payments that bypass traditional card network transaction fees
- Regulatory interchange fee pressure in EU and Australia could compress economics
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