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Square is Buckingham's 'top pick' in payments as Eventbrite offers big opportunity
By: MarketWatch | April 3, 2019

Buckingham Research analyst Chris Brendler called Square Inc. SQ, +1.71% his top pick in the payments universe on Wednesday and cheered the opportunities presented by the company's partnership with Eventbrite Inc. EB, -0.12% "Although Square made a strategic investment back in 2017, it expects to onboard its payments business sometime in 2019," he wrote. "Square is currently testing a marketplaces solution for Eventbrite and with over $4 billion in annual volume, we expect a material boost to total-payment-volume [TPV] growth." While Square will only process in the U.S. for Eventbrite, the domestic business represents about 75% of Eventbrite's total. "An incremental $3 billion in volume would add about 350 basis points to 2019 TPV growth," Brendler wrote. He's also encouraged by the general trends in Square's subscription and services segment. Also on Wednesday, Bernstein initiated coverage of the stock with a market-perform rating. Shares are up 1.5% in morning trading Wednesday, and they've gained 46% over the past three months, as the S&P 500 SPX, +0.26% has gained 18%.

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