Financial Review: Yext (NYSE:YEXT) and PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR)

PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR) and Yext (NYSE:YEXT) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for PAR Technology and Yext, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PAR Technology	1	2	5	0	2.50
Yext	0	5	0	0	2.00

PAR Technology presently has a consensus target price of $24.61, suggesting a potential upside of 67.66%. Yext has a consensus target price of $6.33, suggesting a potential downside of 1.63%. Given PAR Technology’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe PAR Technology is more favorable than Yext.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.0% of Yext shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of PAR Technology shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Yext shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares PAR Technology and Yext’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PAR Technology	-14.52%	-1.62%	-0.97%
Yext	5.90%	43.23%	7.50%

Risk and Volatility

PAR Technology has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yext has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PAR Technology and Yext”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PAR Technology	$455.55 million	1.33	-$84.46 million	($1.76)	-8.34
Yext	$446.58 million	1.43	$37.87 million	$0.17	37.87

Yext has lower revenue, but higher earnings than PAR Technology. PAR Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Yext, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Yext beats PAR Technology on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PAR Technology

PAR Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides omnichannel cloud-based hardware and software solutions to the restaurant and retail industries worldwide. The Restaurant/Retail segment offers PUNCHH, an enterprise-grade customer loyalty and engagement solution; MENU, an eCommerce platform for restaurant brands; BRINK POS, an open cloud, point-of-sale solution; PAR PAYMENT SERVICES, a merchant services business that enables electronic payment and processing services for businesses; and DATA CENTRAL, a back-office solution that leverages business intelligence and automation technologies. This segment also offers Point-of-Sale Hardware; wireless headsets for drive-thru order-taking; and kitchen display systems, payment devices, cash drawers, printers, and other peripherals. In addition, this segment provides services, such as hardware repair, installation and implementation, training, and on-site and technical support services. The Government segment provides intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions; mission systems operations and maintenance, and commercial software products; systems engineering support and software-based solutions; satellite and teleport facility operation and maintenance, engineering, and installation services comprising inside and outside plant services, and maintenance of infrastructure and information systems; satellite ground system support comprising operations and maintenance, sustainment, upgrades, communications security management, anomaly response/resolution, process improvement, emergency response, and disaster recovery services; and information technology infrastructure library services to the United States Department of Defense, intelligence community (IC), and other federal agencies. This segment also offers various IC support services, systems integration, situational awareness solutions, and mission readiness support services. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in New Hartford, New York.

About Yext

Yext, Inc. organizes business facts to provide answers to consumer questions in North America and internationally. It operates Yext platform, a cloud-based platform that allows its customers to offer answers to consumer questions, to control the facts about their businesses and the content of their landing pages, and to manage their consumer reviews; and provides customers to update their information and content through its publisher network of maps, apps, search engines, intelligent GPS systems, digital assistants, vertical directories, and social networks, as well as professional services. The company’s platform also enables its customers to centralize, control and manage data fields, including store information comprising name, address, phone number, and holiday hours; professional information, such as headshot, specialties, and education; job information consists of title and description; FAQs and other information. It serves various industries, such as healthcare, hospitality, food services, retail, and financial services. Yext, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, New York.