What Happened?
Shares of restaurant technology provider PAR Technology (NYSE: PAR) jumped 6% in the afternoon session after the broader market rallied as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a possible interest rate cut at the central bank's September meeting. Powell's comments spurred a positive reaction across stocks, as lower interest rates can stimulate the economy by making borrowing cheaper for companies and consumers. This outlook often leads to increased investor optimism about future corporate earnings and economic growth. The news caused US Treasury yields to fall, further signaling investor expectations of a more accommodative monetary policy from the central bank, which helped lift equities across the board.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
PAR Technology’s shares are quite volatile and have had 17 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock gained 3.6% on the news that the company received an upgrade from brokerage BTIG, which raised its rating to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' and set a $65 price target. The brokerage highlighted the restaurant software provider's strong sales pipeline and its ability to secure large enterprise deals as key drivers for potential annual growth exceeding 15% over the next three years. BTIG's analyst, Andrew Harte, noted that the upgrade follows a recent 25% drop in PAR's stock price, which was influenced by a lowered growth outlook and investor concerns after its latest earnings report. Despite the company missing earnings per share estimates, its revenue grew 43.8% year-over-year. BTIG sees the recent pullback as an attractive entry point for investors.
PAR Technology is down 24.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $54.28 per share, it is trading 33.1% below its 52-week high of $81.14 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of PAR Technology’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,432.
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