The shares of mobile payments concern Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) are exploring record highs again today, thanks to a high-profile endorsement. Sixty-percent of Square merchants surveyed by Instinet said they'd be willing to accept payment in the form of bitcoin, prompting Instinet analyst Dan Dolev to say, "Like Amazon in its early days, we believe that little of Square's future revenue streams are currently visible." At last check, SQ stock was up 4.9% to trade at $54.36, and earlier notched an all-time best of $54.84.
Dolev has a "buy" rating on SQ stock, but despite the equity's surge of more than 220% in the past year, there's plenty of room on the bullish bandwagon. In fact, just 16 of 29 analysts following the security deem it worthy of a "buy" or better endorsement. Likewise, the consensus 12-month price target of $47.65 represents a discount of more than 12% to Square stock's current price. As such, a round of analyst upgrades and price-target hikes could be on the horizon.
In the same vein, roughly 35.7 million SQ shares -- or 12.9% of its total available float -- is dedicated to short interest. As the equity continues to outperform the broader stock market, a round of short covering could add fuel to Square's fire.
Option premium buyers have been rewarded in the past, too. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) comes in at a lofty 96 out of 100. That means SQ stock has exceeded options traders' volatility expectations during the past year -- and, needless to say, those who bought call options fared the best.