Block Inc. shares surged more than 8% in after-hours trading Thursday after the financial technology company delivered a first-quarter earnings beat, accelerated gross profit growth, and raised its full-year outlook.
For the quarter ended March 31, Block reported adjusted earnings of 85 cents per share, up from 56 cents a year earlier, on revenue of $6.06 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 68 cents per share.
Gross profit jumped 27% year-over-year to $2.91 billion, exceeding the company's own guidance. Adjusted operating income hit a record $728 million, with margins expanding to an all-time high of 25%.
Cash App gross profit rose 38% to $1.91 billion, while Square gross profit grew 9% to $982 million. Consumer lending origination volume surged 82%, led by nearly triple the volume in Cash App Borrow.
Bitcoin revenue was a weak spot, falling to $1.80 billion from $2.33 billion, as Block lowered fees on certain bitcoin transactions.
CEO Jack Dorsey highlighted the company’s AI-driven restructuring, saying a smaller team using internal AI tools is now more productive. As of mid-April, production code changes per engineer more than doubled from January, while incident rates fell over 70%.
The company raised its full-year gross profit forecast to $12.33 billion, with adjusted operating income expected at $3.34 billion and earnings per share of $3.85.