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How to buy Afterpay (SQ2) shares in Australia

Learn how to easily invest in Afterpay shares.

Afterpay Limited is an Australian payments company best known for its buy now pay later (BNPL) service. In 2021, the company was acquired by US tech giant Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) which subsequently listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the ticker code SQ2. This means that you'll need to buy shares in Square to invest in its subsidiary Afterpay.

Afterpay was founded in 2014 in Australia and has since expanded into the United States, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain. As a strong contender in the digital payments and credit space, Afterpay has been a market favourite since it launched onto the stock market in 2016.

How to buy shares in Afterpay

To buy shares listed in Australia such as Afterpay, you'll need to sign up to a broker with access to the ASX. Our table can help you compare share trading platforms and choose. Then follow these steps.

  1. Open and fund your brokerage account.
    Complete an application with your personal and financial details, including your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, PayPal or debit card.
  2. Search for Afterpay.
    Find the share by name or ticker symbol: SQ2. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
  3. Purchase now or later.
    Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Afterpay reaches your desired price. Look into dollar-cost averaging to spread out your risk, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
  4. Decide on how many to buy.
    At today's price, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs.
  5. Check on your investment.
    Congratulations, you own a part of Afterpay. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock and the business performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that affect your stock.

Afterpay stock price (ASX:SQ2)

Use our graph to track the performance of SQ2 stocks over time.

Afterpay shares at a glance

Information last updated 2024-07-19.
52-week range$60.56 - $130.305
50-day moving average $99.86
200-day moving average $102.6344
Target price$162.11
PE ratio 114.8652
Dividend yield N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM) $0.89

Compare share trading platforms

The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.
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Is it a good time to buy Afterpay stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. However, this is not a recommendation. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Afterpay price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of A$93.98

1 week (2024-07-18) -12.01%
1 month (2024-06-25) -3.42%
3 months (2024-04-24) -19.73%
6 months (2024-01-25) -1.84%
1 year (2023-07-25) -17.32%
2 years (2022-07-25) -10.92%

Is Afterpay under- or over-valued?

Valuing Afterpay stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Afterpay's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Afterpay's P/E ratio

Afterpay's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 115x. In other words, Afterpay shares trade at around 115x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the P/E ratio for the ASX over the 12 months to December 2019 (32.14). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Afterpay's PEG ratio

Afterpay's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.8963. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Afterpay's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Afterpay's EBITDA

Afterpay's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $515.5 million (£0.0 million).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Afterpay's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure stock profitability.

Afterpay financials

Revenue TTM $22.9 billion
Operating margin TTM 4.19%
Gross profit TTM $6.1 billion
Return on assets TTM 0.33%
Return on equity TTM 1.94%
Profit margin 1.68%
Book value 30.744
Market capitalisation $63.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Afterpay share dividends

We're not expecting Afterpay to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Afterpay share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Afterpay's shares have ranged in value from as little as $60.56 up to $130.305. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta measures a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (AU average) beta is 1, while Afterpay's is 2.522. This would suggest that Afterpay's shares are significantly more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent a higher risk.

Afterpay overview

Block, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, builds ecosystems focused on commerce and financial products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Square and Cash App. The Square segment offers commerce products for restaurants, appointments, retail, point of sale, online, online checkout, and invoices, as well as virtual terminals, risk and order managers, and payment and commerce application programming interfaces; managed payment services; software solutions; hardware products, such as registers, terminals, stands, and readers for contactless and chips; banking services consisting of lending, instant transfer, and checking and savings accounts; and full-service setup and support services. This segment also provides loyalty, marketing, team management, and payroll services; and gift cards. The Cash App segment offers financial tools within the mobile Cash App, including peer-to-peer payments, bitcoin, and stock investment brokerage; Cash App Card, a debit card; direct deposit, cash boost, and tax preparation services; and Afterpay, a buy now, pay later platform. This segment also provides Pay in 4, monthly payment solutions, advertising and affiliate, shop directory, and Cash App Pay services; and business accounts, and Afterpay and Afterpay Plus cards. In addition, the company operates TIDAL, a platform for musicians and fans; TBD, an open developer platform focused on making the decentralized financial world accessible; Bitkey, a self-custody bitcoin wallet; and Spiral, which focuses on bitcoin open source work. It serves businesses, sellers, and individuals through e-commerce and retail distribution channels. The company was formerly known as Square, Inc. and changed its name to Block, Inc. in December 2021. Block, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Oakland, California.

Past developments

24 March 2023: In response to allegations of fake accounts, Block labels the report "factually inaccurate and misleading" and is looking into legal action against the short-seller.
24 March 2023: Block's shares fell just shy of 20% following a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research. The report suggests that 40% to 75% of the accounts they reviewed were fake, involved in fraud, or were additional accounts tied to a single individual. This is based on estimations from a former Block employee.
30 January 2023: Consumer groups have urged for full regulation of the buy now pay later industry in submissions to the Treasury as the Australian government draws up plans for regulation of the sector. Largest player Afterpay, now owned by Block, said an industry code of conduct is appropriate. Rivals such as CBA and ZIP favour a middle ground.
23 January 2023: The ASX-listed shares of payment giant Block lifted to a 3-month high. Shares tracked gains on the Nasdaq as expectations grow about inflation cooling in the United States, fueling hopes that the Federal Reserve will ease up its policy-tightening campaign.

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of futures, stocks, ETFs, CFDs, options or any specific provider, service or offering. It should not be relied upon as investment advice or construed as providing recommendations of any kind. Futures, stocks, ETFs and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Trading CFDs comes with a higher risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before making any trades.

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