Start here if you're new
what it is
PAR sells cash register software, restaurant back-office tools, hardware, and a smaller government services business.
how it gets paid
Last year Par Technology made $456M in revenue. POS software was the main engine at $155M, or 34% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 30.2% last year. Revenue grew 181% vs. prior year in the latest quarter.
what just happened
Latest quarter revenue hit $335 million, but EPS fell to -$1.58 and kept the profit story on hold.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
65/100 earnings predictability — reasonably predictable
-$2.09 fy2025 eps est
$2B fy2026 rev est
15.1% operating margin
xvary composite: 50/100 — below average
What they do
PAR sells cash register software, restaurant back-office tools, hardware, and a smaller government services business.
PAR wins by getting inside daily restaurant operations. Once your POS system, back-office software, and support are tied together, ripping it out is painful. That matters because recurring revenue reached $315.4 million in 2025, according to the company’s February 26, 2026 earnings release.
How they make money
$456M
annual revenue · their business grew +30.2% last year
POS software
$155M
Back-office SaaS
$141M
POS hardware
$73M
Support services
$23M
Government
$64M
The products that matter
cloud-based restaurant pos
Brink POS
71% gross margin
it's the core software layer, and the 71% gross margin tells you why management wants more of the mix here. this is the kind of revenue stream that can scale well — if operating expenses stop eating it.
core platform
customer engagement platform
Punchh Loyalty
80%+ of new deals
acquired in 2021, Punchh now shows up in more than 80% of new multi-product deals. that's not just cross-sell. that's management trying to make one customer worth several software modules instead of one.
bundle driver
hardware deployment and support
Hardware & Services
$141M · flat
this $141M piece matters because it keeps the platform in the store, but flat growth is also why the market won't give PAR full software credit. it helps distribution. it also drags on mix.
execution risk
Key numbers
4.4x
2026 sales gap
The $2.0 billion 2026 revenue target is 4.4x trailing revenue of $456 million. So what: you are betting on a huge jump, not a small step.
30.2%
annual growth
Revenue grew 30.2% vs. prior year to $456 million. That is real demand, not a rounding error.
15.1%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → how much money the core operation keeps. So what: PAR still loses about 15 cents on every sales dollar.
$374M
long-term debt
Debt equals 38% of capital, which is heavy for a company with negative earnings and a beta of 1.6.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 15 / 100
- long-term debt $374M (38% of capital)
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for PAR right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Latest quarter revenue hit $335 million, but EPS fell to -$1.58 and kept the profit story on hold.
Revenue grew 181% vs. prior year in the latest quarter, according to SEC data. Gross margin was 44.3%, but that still did not translate into earnings.
$335M
revenue
$1.58
eps
44.3%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was -$1.58 in EPS, because fast growth means less if each quarter still ends in a loss.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
the top risk is restaurant software growth failing to translate into cash generation.
med
Recurring revenue, non-recurring cash
PAR ended the period with $315.4M in ARR and still reported negative operating cash flow of $23M. That's the central contradiction in the story.
If that conversion problem persists, the 2.6x sales multiple can stay low for a long time, no matter how good the software pitch sounds.
med
Hardware keeps blurring the software case
Hardware & services generated $141M and was flat, while subscription services grew 30.2%. Investors want the second number. The income statement still has both.
A business with mixed quality revenue rarely gets full software valuation credit. The slower segment can keep dragging on sentiment and margins.
med
ARR deceleration becomes the new story
Management is guiding for mid-teens ARR growth in 2026 after 30.2% growth last year. That's a meaningful slowdown even before you argue about profitability.
If growth compresses faster than expenses do, the stock loses both parts of the thesis at once: premium software narrative and eventual margin leverage.
med
The $100M buyback raises the bar
A $100M authorization is large relative to a roughly $608M market cap. It sounds shareholder-friendly. It also creates a timing question while cash flow is still negative.
If buybacks come before operational proof, investors may read it as financial engineering instead of conviction.
A business trading at 2.6x sales with $315.4M in recurring revenue can work. A business doing that while losing $2.09 per share and burning operating cash can stay cheap. That's the risk.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
next earnings report
Scheduled for May 12, 2026. The number that matters is not just ARR growth. It's whether management shows cleaner operating cash flow alongside it.
metric
mid-teens ARR growth target
Management's 2026 ARR guide is now mid-teens after 30.2% growth last year. If that slows further, the market will start treating PAR less like growth software and more like a stalled turnaround.
risk
buyback versus cash generation
The $100M repurchase authorization is big enough to matter. Watch whether the company funds buybacks while operating cash flow is still negative.
trend
software mix improvement
Subscription services are growing faster than hardware and services. You want that gap to widen, because mix improvement is the cleanest path to a better multiple.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
65 / 100
This sits in the middle. In human-speak, analysts think the business is understandable, but the quarterly path is still messy enough to produce surprises.
beta
1.6
Beta measures how much a stock moves relative to the market. At 1.6, PAR has historically moved a lot more than the index. Not a bunker stock.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for PAR is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$17
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive