Block earnings: third quarter 2026

Block, the company behind the Square payment terminals and the Cash App money app, had a third quarter of 2026 well ahead of what analysts expected. Gross profit, which is what is left of sales after the direct cost of serving customers and is the yardstick Block steers by, rose 22% to $3.24 billion. It raised its forecasts for the whole year and set targets for 2027 well above the ones it gave a year ago. The costs behind its lending are rising fast, and large legal and restructuring charges held back the reported profit. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Block's adjusted earnings per share of $1.13 came in about 66% above the $0.68 analysts expected on average, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. Its reported figure of $0.92, which counts the legal and restructuring charges and a gain on its bitcoin, was also above that forecast, by about 35%. ¹²

The strong points

• Gross profit grew 22% from a year earlier to $3.24 billion, more than twice as fast as sales, and came in above what Block itself had said to expect. ¹
• On Block's own adjusted measure, which leaves out charges, operating profit (the profit from running the business) rose 92% to $923 million. ¹
• Even after counting the money it lent out to customers, Block's own measure of cash generated nearly tripled to $668 million. ¹

The weak points

• Losses on payments and on loans that customers do not repay rose 66% from a year earlier, to about $602 million. ¹
• Legal and restructuring charges of $435 million, against $21 million a year earlier, held reported operating profit to just $428 million, up only about 5%. ¹
• Gross profit from bitcoin trading halved to $52 million, mainly because Block chose to cut the fee it charges on some Cash App bitcoin trades. ¹

What the company expects

• Block raised its 2026 forecast for adjusted earnings per share to $4.15, up from the $4.02 it forecast three months ago. It also raised its gross profit forecast to $12.626 billion, from $12.51 billion. ¹
• For 2027 Block expects gross profit to grow at least 15% to $14.519 billion and adjusted operating profit to reach $4.575 billion, well above the $3.510 billion it set out in November 2025. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Block raised its forecasts for the year, earned far more per share than analysts expected and grew its gross profit by more than a fifth. That makes it a very strong report, though rising loan losses and big legal charges are the costs to keep an eye on.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Block's results release, 3 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 3 November 2026. ↩