For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 16, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Block XYZ as the Bull of the Day and Herc Holdings HRI as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on IonQ IONQ, Rigetti Computing RGTI and Alphabet GOOGL.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks.
Bull of the Day:
Sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and landing the Bull of the Day, the bull thesis for Block stock centers on the idea that the market is undervaluing a business whose core ecosystems — Square, Cash App, Bitcoin, and AI-driven infrastructure — are simultaneously scaling, integrating, and accelerating.
With investors starting to shake off geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, Block stock has spiked more than 10% so far this month, as sentiment is growing for a mix of AI-driven operational changes, new product launches, and expanding partnerships.
Block Company Overview
Block, Inc. is a diversified financial services and commerce technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2009, Block operates two primary reportable segments: Cash App and Square, complemented by Corporate and Other operations. The company serves millions of consumers and merchants worldwide through an integrated ecosystem of financial solutions and commerce enablement tools.
Cash App is positioned as a financial operating system for the modern earner, offering peer-to-peer payments, primary banking services, consumer lending, and bitcoin functionality to drive engagement and monetization at scale. Meanwhile, Square provides comprehensive commerce solutions for sellers, combining integrated payments processing, software and automation tools, banking services, and lending capabilities to help businesses streamline operations and scale efficiently across diverse verticals and geographies.
Strong Momentum from AI Initiatives
Block has been aggressively integrating AI across its organization, including replacing traditional managers with “player-coaches” and AI-driven organizational tools.
Block’s player-coaches are a new role within the company’s organizational structure, replacing traditional middle management. These individuals are deeply involved in the decision-making process, using AI tools to inform their own choices and collaborating closely with their teams. The player-coaches are responsible for both individual contributions and the development of talent, effectively taking on the roles of both managers and coaches, aiming to create a more agile and efficient work environment with a focus on collaboration and innovation.
Also, the launch of "Managerbot," a proactive AI agent, has deepened Block's automation and efficiency gains at a time when investors are rewarding companies that show credible AI execution, especially when it reduces costs and accelerates product development.
Square’s Expanding Partnerships & Product Adoption
Adding fuel to the rally, Block has announced multiple new partnerships and product rollouts this year for Square, strengthening its ecosystem. Listed below, these deals signal strong enterprise adoption and reinforce Square’s position in retail, restaurants, and services.
1. Birch Coffee expanded its NYC footprint using Square’s unified commerce platform
2. GOLFTEC, a global golf instruction and club fitting company with 200+ locations, has adopted Square for payments and infrastructure
3. Square has launched AI-driven restaurant inventory management with MarketMan, a cloud-based restaurant inventory and supply management platform
Cash App Growth & New Financial Features
Cash App is the centerpiece of the bull case, serving over 57 million monthly users and having a strong presence among younger demographics.
Cash App continues to be a major growth engine, introducing “Pay Over Time,” a first-of-its-kind feature that allows customers to convert peer-to-peer transfers into installment plans.
Analysts have noted that Cash App and AI initiatives are driving upside for Block’s stock, giving the company a strong position in the competitive fintech landscape.
Why Block Looks So Undervalued
At $67 a share, Block stock trades at 17X forward earnings, offering a slight discount to its Zacks Internet-Software Industry Average and trading further beneath the S&P 500’s 22X.
More compelling is that Block’s earnings growth is vastly outpacing its peers and the broader market, with FY26 EPS expected to spike 57% to $3.72 from $2.37 per share last year. Plus, FY27 EPS is projected to soar another 30% to $4.84.
Attributed to Block’s strong buy rating and magnifying its attractive P/E valuation is that over the last 60 days, FY26 and FY27 EPS estimates have risen over 14% respectively, from projections of $3.22 and $4.23.
Providing a more comprehensive view of a company’s valuation by factoring in its earnings growth potential, Block has a PEG ratio of 0.6X (P/E divided by expected EPS growth rate).
Conventional wisdom says that a PEG ratio of 1 or less is considered good (at par or undervalued to its growth rate), and Block is well under that threshold, with its industry average at over 2X and the S&P 500 at 1.3X.
Block stock also trades under the preferred level of less than 2X forward sales, with most of its internet-software peers above this level, as well as the S&P 500.
Furthermore, Block's annual sales are projected to increase over 11% in FY26 and FY27, with projections heading toward $30 billion after bringing in $24.19 billion in 2025.
Summary
Block’s rebound is being driven by AI-powered restructuring, new product innovation, expanding enterprise partnerships, and strong Cash App momentum, all of which suggest improving fundamentals and strong future growth potential.
Bear of the Day:
Landing a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and the Bear of the Day, Herc Holdings stock is down 30% year to date.
Unfortunately, a trend of declining EPS revisions points to more downside risk ahead despite Herc’s being a leading equipment rental supplier in North America that provides a full-line portfolio of general and specialty equipment to contractors, industrial customers, infrastructure and government agencies, commercial facilities, and event producers.
The decline in HRI has been driven by analyst sentiment turning more cautious amid industry specific headwinds and a history of weaker-than-expected financial performance.
High Volatility in the Equipment-Rental Space
At the moment, Herc’s Zacks Transportation-Equipment and Leasing Industry is in the bottom 1% of over 240 Zacks industries. These companies have been hit hard by tariff-related uncertainty, and elevated interest rates have created uneven demand, pressuring smaller operators like Herc.
To that point, equipment rental companies depend heavily on construction, manufacturing, and industrial activity, sectors that react sharply to tariffs, interest rates, and capital-spending cycles.
Being a prime example of the extreme volatility equipment rental stocks can often face, HRI has a 52-week range of $88.45-$188.35, reflecting a very wide trading band and a beta of 1.81, meaning it tends to move more sharply than the broader market.
Some analysts have also noted sector shifts toward more flexible rental platforms, which may be affecting sentiment around traditional equipment rental companies like Herc.
EPS Downgrades & A History of Missing Expectations
Correlating with Herc’s strong sell rating and suggesting more downside risk may still be ahead is that earnings estimate revisions have plummeted across the board for Q1 and Q2, with FY26 EPS estimates now falling nearly 34% in the last 60 days from $8.21 to $5.43.
More concerning and starting to eliminate hopes of a rebound is that FY27 EPS estimates have fallen 21% in the last two months from $12.96 to $10.20. It’s noteworthy that equipment rental is capital-intensive, and when companies or customers delay purchases or rentals due to economic uncertainty, earnings expectations shift quickly.
Adding heed to the warning, is that although Herc has exceeded EPS expectations for three consecutive quarters, the company had previously missed bottom-line targets in eight straight quarterly reports.
Bottom Line
Equipment-rental stocks are volatile because they sit at the intersection of macro uncertainty, cyclical industrial demand, and capital-intensive business models. When economic indicators shift even slightly, analysts rapidly reprice expectations for utilization, fleet costs, and project pipelines. Unfortunately, Herc is a stock that is bearing the brunt of the pain.
Additional content:
2 Quantum Stocks to Watch in April with Strong Upside
The quantum computing industry in early 2026 sits at a paradoxical transition phase marked by accelerating technical progress and capital inflows, yet tempered by macroeconomic friction and geopolitical instability. Recent developments show tangible commercialization momentum.
Pureplays like IonQ reported 2025 revenues surging over 400% over the previous year, with a 2026 outlook of $235 million, signaling early enterprise adoption. Rigetti Computing has resumed hardware shipments and cloud access expansion, indicating a shift from pure R&D to revenue generation.
Technology Race Broadens
At the same time, technological diversification is accelerating. Alphabet is expanding into neutral-atom architectures alongside superconducting systems, reflecting a broader industry hedge on scalability and error correction paths. This aligns with wider industry trends where multiple hardware approaches like trapped ions, photonics and neutral atoms are competing in parallel, indicating that the sector remains capital-intensive.
Policy Support vs Macro Headwinds
Funding and policy remain central drivers. China’s public quantum investment is widely estimated at around $15 billion, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and studies from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), significantly exceeding the roughly $1.2–$1.3 billion authorized under the U.S. National Quantum Initiative, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Energy. This divergence highlights the technology’s growing national security importance.
These policy tailwinds are partially offset, however, by tightening financial conditions globally. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment has hovered around the 4% range entering 2026, while projections from the Federal Reserve point to a gradual rise toward the mid-4% range as higher interest rates weigh on hiring. Inflation remains above central bank targets in major economies, keeping monetary policy restrictive. This environment tends to pressure high-duration, capital-intensive sectors like quantum, where profitability timelines extend well into the next decade.
Against the backdrop of geopolitical instability and market volatility in April 2026, the quantum industry is likely to exhibit a divergent trend, continued progress in partnerships, public-sector funding and technical milestones, alongside cautious capital deployment and uneven equity performance. Near-term momentum will depend less on breakthroughs alone and more on the interplay between macro stability and sustained institutional investment.
Here are the two pure-play stocks with strong near-term projections.
IonQ: The company remains one of the most prominent pure-play quantum computing stocks, backed by strong commercial momentum and improving financial visibility. Apart from an over 400% revenue surge in 2025, the strong revenue outlook for 2026 reflects accelerating enterprise adoption through cloud platforms and government contracts. IonQ’s trapped-ion technology continues to differentiate it in terms of stability and scalability potential. With expanding partnerships across major cloud providers and increasing bookings, the company is steadily transitioning from experimental deployments to repeatable revenue streams.
For 2026, IONQ is expected to report earnings growth of 40.1% on revenue growth of 82.3%. Based on short-term price targets offered by 12 analysts, the average price target for IonQ represents an increase of 119.83% from the last closing price. IONQ currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Rigetti: While more volatile, the stock is showing early signs of operational stabilization and renewed commercial traction. The company has resumed quantum processor shipments and expanded its cloud-based Quantum Cloud Services platform, signaling a shift back toward execution after a challenging phase. With restructuring efforts underway and increasing participation in government-funded programs, Rigetti offers a higher-risk, higher-reward opportunity for investors seeking exposure to the next phase of quantum commercialization.
For 2026, RGTI is expected to report earnings growth of 73.4% on revenue growth of 254.7%. Based on short-term price targets offered by 10 analysts, the average price target for RGTI represents an increase of 112.16% from the last closing price. RGTI currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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