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Block, Inc.: Q2 FY2026 earnings call

What management said about Q2 FY2026, from the documents filed with the SEC on 5 August 2026: letter to shareholders. Guidance figures: 4 raised. The quarter’s numbers.

Key takeaways

  • Gross profit up 25% year over year: Gross profit reached $3.17 billion in the second quarter, up 25% from $2.54 billion a year earlier, led by Cash App and Square. Source
  • Adjusted margin reached 27%: Adjusted Operating Income was $864 million, a 27% margin on gross profit against 22% a year earlier. Adjusted Diluted EPS grew 65% to $1.02. Source
  • Cash App gross profit up 31%: Cash App gross profit reached $1.97 billion, up 31%. Commerce Enablement growth was broad across BNPL and Cash App Card, and Financial Solutions growth came from Cash App Borrow. Source
  • Square U.S. volume growth accelerated: Square U.S. GPV growth reached 10%, up from 7.0% a year earlier and the fastest since Q2 2023. International GPV grew 28%; total Square GPV was $72.8 billion. Source
  • Cash App Tags sold out at launch: Each Cash App Tags launch sold out within hours. More than 3 million people requested notification of future drops, with no paid marketing. Source
  • Neighborhoods scaled to more sellers: Neighborhoods sellers grew more than tenfold after auto-enablement began, and over 90% of recent auto-enabled cohorts stayed enabled. Eligibility now covers more hardware devices. Source
  • Acquisition drove GPV acceleration: Management attributed Square GPV acceleration to new customer acquisition, retention and same-store growth. New seller acquisition spanned channels and geographies, with field sales and ISO partnerships scaling. Source
  • Hardware and AI compound together: Management framed hardware and AI as the two capabilities compounding fastest, with owned capability converting directly into growth. Source

“Our results this quarter, year over year gross profit growth of 25% and record profitability, and our raised guide for the full year, reflect years of that compounding.”

Block, Inc., letter to shareholders

Guidance

AreaPeriodFigureAgainst last quarter
Gross profit SourceQ3 2026$3.13B
Adjusted Operating Income SourceQ3 2026$875M, 28% margin
Gross profit SourceFull year 2026$12.51 billion, up 21%Raised
Adjusted Operating Income SourceFull year 2026$3.47 billion, 28% marginRaised
Rule of X SourceFull year 202649%Raised
Adjusted Diluted EPS SourceFull year 2026$4.02, 70% growthRaised
Rule of X SourceQ3 202646%
Adjusted Diluted EPS SourceQ3 2026$1.02, 89% YoY growth

What changed from last quarter

  • Guidance raised: Full-year 2026 guidance was raised across gross profit, Adjusted Operating Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS. Source
  • New: Block reduced the fee charged on certain bitcoin transactions on Cash App, a strategic decision management cited. Source
  • New: Cash App Tags, a tap-to-pay hardware line with a physical collectible form factor, was launched in the quarter. Source
  • New: Cash App Mobile, a $40-per-month unlimited 5G wireless plan, was launched. Source
  • New: Stablecoins were launched on Cash App through an integration with USDC. Source
  • New: Buzz, an internally developed system for agent collaboration, communication and code repositories, was launched in July. Source
  • New: The OpenTable partnership was expanded globally, with Block as OpenTable's preferred point-of-sale partner. Source
  • New: Afterpay Pre-Purchase, which lets customers choose debit or BNPL before each eligible transaction, moved to general availability. Source
  • New: SFS processed its first Square acquiring transaction in June. Source

Results and profitability

  • Gross profit up 25% year over year: Gross profit reached $3.17 billion in the second quarter, up 25% from $2.54 billion a year earlier, led by Cash App and Square. Source
  • Adjusted margin reached 27%: Adjusted Operating Income was $864 million, a 27% margin on gross profit against 22% a year earlier. Adjusted Diluted EPS grew 65% to $1.02. Source
  • GAAP operating income and EPS: GAAP operating income was $447 million, against $484 million a year earlier. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.15, against $0.87. Source
  • Net income and Adjusted EBITDA: Net income attributable to common stockholders was $89 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.2 billion, 37% of gross profit. Source

Segments and regions

  • Cash App gross profit up 31%: Cash App gross profit reached $1.97 billion, up 31%. Commerce Enablement growth was broad across BNPL and Cash App Card, and Financial Solutions growth came from Cash App Borrow. Source
  • Square gross profit up 13%: Square gross profit reached $1.16 billion, up 13% on reported and ex-hardware bases. A one-time tariff reimbursement added about two points, offsetting a prior-year network remediation payment. Source
  • Square U.S. volume growth accelerated: Square U.S. GPV growth reached 10%, up from 7.0% a year earlier and the fastest since Q2 2023. International GPV grew 28%; total Square GPV was $72.8 billion. Source

“We took the opposite path. To us the models are interchangeable, and everything that matters, the harness, the data, and the distribution, is ours.”

Block, Inc., letter to shareholders

Products and customers

  • Cash App Tags sold out at launch: Each Cash App Tags launch sold out within hours. More than 3 million people requested notification of future drops, with no paid marketing. Source
  • Neighborhoods scaled to more sellers: Neighborhoods sellers grew more than tenfold after auto-enablement began, and over 90% of recent auto-enabled cohorts stayed enabled. Eligibility now covers more hardware devices. Source
  • Borrow drove consumer lending growth: Consumer Lending origination volume grew 59% year over year to $18.9 billion, driven largely by Cash App Borrow. Source
  • Afterpay Pre-Purchase adoption: As of June, BNPL transactions made up 17% of Afterpay Pre-Purchase enabled card spend, with adoption in groceries, gas and utilities. Source
  • Square credit card passed $1 billion: Square credit card reached over $1 billion in annualized spend in the quarter. SFS added high-yield savings accounts for eligible Square sellers. Source

Costs and monetization

  • Product development spend fell: Product development expenses fell 16% year over year on a GAAP basis, driven by lower personnel-related costs. Source
  • Sales and marketing rose 21%: Sales and marketing expenses rose 21% on a GAAP basis. Cash App sales and marketing rose 28%, and other sales and marketing rose 11%. Source
  • Cash App monetization rate rose: The Commerce Enablement monetization rate rose 12 basis points to 1.65%, reflecting higher Afterpay Post-Purchase attach rates. Source
  • Borrow loss rates reported as healthy: Management reported Borrow cohort risk loss rates remained healthy as origination shifted toward the six-week loan product. Source

“That is what has sustained our growth through every shift so far, and it is what will sustain it through this one.”

Block, Inc., letter to shareholders

Demand and customer acquisition

  • Acquisition drove GPV acceleration: Management attributed Square GPV acceleration to new customer acquisition, retention and same-store growth. New seller acquisition spanned channels and geographies, with field sales and ISO partnerships scaling. Source
  • Self-onboarded volume fastest since 2021: New Volume Added growth from self-onboarded sellers was the fastest since Q2 2021. Upmarket momentum continued with drive-through and order management capabilities. Source
  • Food and beverage volume accelerated: Food and beverage GPV grew 20%, with U.S. food and beverage GPV at its fastest rate since Q1 2023. Retail GPV grew 13% and services GPV 7%. Source
  • Seller wins across Canada and US: Ladurée chose Square for every Canadian location. Magnolia Soap & Bath Co. chose Square for 50-plus locations across 17 states. Source

Capital, cash and shareholder returns

  • Lending investment continued: Management said it continued to prudently invest in lending products, including Borrow, given the unit economics and returns it has seen. Source
  • $1.8 billion deployed into lending: Over the last 12 months, $1.8 billion of capital was deployed to grow lending products within non-GAAP cash flow. Source
  • Non-GAAP cash flow rose sharply: Non-GAAP Cash Flow was $1,008 million in the second quarter, against negative $131 million a year earlier. The trailing twelve months totaled $1,267 million. Source
  • Buybacks year to date: Year to date, the company repurchased 11.6 million Class A shares for $701 million. Source
  • Remaining repurchase authorization: $4.6 billion remained under the repurchase authorization as of June 30, 2026. Source
  • Liquidity at quarter end: Total liquidity was $8.8 billion, including $7.9 billion of cash and investments and $900 million available from the revolving credit facility. Source

Strategy and AI

  • Hardware and AI compound together: Management framed hardware and AI as the two capabilities compounding fastest, with owned capability converting directly into growth. Source
  • Model-agnostic AI platform: goose was built in early 2024 to work with any model. An internal platform handles model access, routing, tools and permissions, and models can be switched as better ones ship. Source
  • Agentic AI writes most code: In June, agentic AI helped write and review nearly all production code changes, through Builderbot, which orchestrates Block's codebase. Source
  • Managerbot automates seller tasks: Managerbot is already automating marketing, margin analysis and operational fixes for sellers. Moneybot is generally available. Source
  • Lending data as first intelligence layer: Management called risk and lending its first intelligence layer. Square Loans are underwritten on data banks cannot see. Source

Coming up, as management said on 5 August 2026

  • Neighborhoods to become top channel: Management expects Neighborhoods to become one of the top attributable customer acquisition channels for Cash App in the near future. Source
  • Acquiring volume shifting to SFS: Management expects to move more Square and Cash App acquiring volume to SFS over the coming years. Source
  • Loss growth expected to moderate: Management expects year-over-year growth in transaction, loan and consumer receivable losses to moderate through the rest of 2026. Source

Figures management reported

FigureReported
Cash App monthly transacting actives Source59 million (June 2026)
Cash App Primary Banking Actives Source9.4 million, up 17% year over year
Moneybot weekly engaged accounts Sourceover 1 million

Risks management discussed

  • Financial: Transaction, loan and consumer receivable losses rose 99% on a GAAP basis, which management attributes mainly to growth in loan volumes. Source
  • Regulatory: General and administrative costs rose 84% on a GAAP basis, mainly from higher accrued legal contingencies, partly offset by lower personnel costs. Source
  • External: Bitcoin Ecosystem gross profit fell 31%, which management ties to a fee reduction and bitcoin trading conditions. Source
  • Financial: Management noted that changes in reconciling items such as contingencies and restructuring could significantly affect future GAAP results, which it has not reconciled in guidance. Source

Earlier plans management reported on

  • Ahead: Management said second-quarter gross profit growth outperformed its gross profit guidance. Source
  • Ahead: Management said Adjusted Operating Income exceeded its second-quarter guidance, with gross profit growth lifting profitability. Source
  • Not stated: Management continues to expect Square gross profit to grow roughly in line with Square GPV in the second half of 2026. Source
  • Not stated: Management linked lower product development personnel costs to the organizational changes executed in February. Source

Other quarters

Summarised with AI from the documents the company filed with the SEC. Every point is checked against the filing before it is shown: management’s own words word for word, figures against the line or table row they come from. A point that fails the check is left out. Source opens the filing at that line.