Toast, Inc.

The AI Infrastructure Opportunity

Key Points
Atlassian's cloud business growth could help it rebound.
Salesforce is already seeing promise with its Agentforce agentic AI software.
Toast is adding new locations at a record pace.
It would be great if you could buy a stock that always moves higher without any pullbacks along the way. But that's not realistic. Even the best stocks have experienced times when they fell significantly. However, those periods presented excellent buying opportunities for patient investors.
If you're looking for examples in today's market, you're in luck. Here are three beaten-down growth stocks that could soar more than 30% over the next 12 months, according to Wall Street.
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1. Atlassian
Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) focuses on collaboration tools primarily used in software development and project management. Its products include Bitbucket for teams developing software and Jira for tracking issues and engaging in agile project management.
This once high-flying stock has plunged more than 50% below its 52-week high. Disappointing guidance earlier in 2025 and some insider sales have been key factors behind this steep decline.
But Wall Street analysts think Atlassian can recover a lot of ground over the next 12 months. The consensus price target for the stock reflects an upside potential of 66%. Of the 32 analysts surveyed by S&P Global in October, 25 rated Atlassian as a buy or strong buy.
Why do analysts like this beaten-down stock? Its cloud business is probably at the top of the list. As a case in point, Raymond James analysts wrote to investors after Atlassian's fourth-quarter update that the company's "cloud value proposition has recently tripled."
2. Salesforce
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) didn't invest customer relationship management (CRM). However, it's fair to say the company reinvented CRM by using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. And Salesforce continues to dominate the CRM market, with industry-leading revenue for 12 consecutive years.
Unfortunately, Salesforce's stock hasn't been so dominating. The CRM giant started off the year on a good note, but its shares are now down more than 30% below the late January peak. Investors became concerned that the company's artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives aren't delivering returns as quickly as anticipated.
Wall Street remains generally bullish about Salesforce, though. The consensus 12-month price target for the stock is roughly 38% above the current share price. Forty-three of the 55 analysts surveyed by S&P Global this month rated Salesforce as a buy or better. Another 11 analysts recommended holding the stock, with one pessimistic outlier recommending selling it.
One likely factor behind the support for Salesforce is the promise of the company's Agentforce agentic AI software that automates workflows. Since launching Agentforce in September 2024, Salesforce has closed more than 12,500 deals.
3. Toast
Toast (NYSE: TOST) operates cloud-based restaurant management software. Its software helps restaurants run their businesses from top to bottom, with digital ordering, point-of-sale, payments, and marketing solutions -- and more.
This stock has taken investors on a roller-coaster ride in 2025. That ride is currently on a downward trajectory, with Toast's shares down around 25% from the high set this summer.
At first glance, you might get the impression that Wall Street is lukewarm about Toast. Of the 26 analysts surveyed by S&P Global in October who cover the stock, 13 had buy or better ratings. Twelve analysts recommended holding the stock, with one sell recommendation. However, the average price target for Toast reflects an upside potential of 34%.
There seems to be a lot for analysts to like about Toast. The software company added a record 8,500 net new locations in the second quarter of 2025. It also formed a multiyear partnership with American Express that Toast CEO Aman Narang said was "aimed at delivering personalized experiences and expanding guest reach to help our customers provide better hospitality and grow."
Is Wall Street right about these stocks?
I'm not sure if Atlassian, Salesforce, and Toast stocks will soar as much over the next 12 months as Wall Street's consensus price targets expect. However, I think analysts are rightly bullish about the long-term prospects for each of these beaten-down growth stocks.
Of the three, I like Toast the best. Its tremendous growth potential is underscored by the stock's low price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 0.25. But all three of these stocks could deliver solid returns over the next few years.
Should you invest $1,000 in Toast right now?
Before you buy stock in Toast, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Toast wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $627,363!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,137,335!*
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*Stock Advisor returns as of October 7, 2025
American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Annie Dean, a Vice President at Atlassian, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Atlassian, S&P Global, Salesforce, and Toast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

3 Beaten-Down Growth Stocks That Could Soar More Than 30%, According to Wall Street

Key Points
Figma, Axon, and Toast aren't cheap stocks, but they might never be textbook cheap.
Figma has been volatile since its late July IPO, but it's growing its revenue north of 40%.
Axon has been growing its top line at a better-than-20% pace every year over the past decade. Business is picking up lately.
You can make a little money go a long way, as long as you invest in the right growth stocks. The risks are understandably high. The valuations may seem outlandish today, but interesting things happen to stocks that are price for perfection when reality exceeds perfection.
I believe that Figma (NYSE: FIG), Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ: AXON), and Toast (NYSE: TOST) are three growth stocks to invest $1,000 right now. Let's take a closer look.
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1. Figma
Thrill seekers ride roller coasters over the summer. Investors looking for white-knuckled ups and downs found that in Figma. The developer of design tools for websites and mobile apps went public less than three months ago at $33. The IPO has not stood still. Figma traded as high as $143 out of the gate. It is trading 60% below that early August peak as of Monday's close.
Figma hit the market checking all of the boxes and buzzwords that rightfully make growth investors tingly with wealth-altering potential. There are other cloud-based platforms that help spruce up and simplify digital offerings, and Figma isn't the only one putting artificial intelligence (AI) front and center. It's competitively priced, as low as $3 to as high as $90 a month for its premium subscriptions. Free starter accounts woo potential payers.
You can't be a growth stock without growth, and Figma delivers on that front. Revenue rose 48% last year. Canva -- who could go public later this year -- grew its top line at half of Figma's clip in 2024. Canva is admittedly three times as a large as Figma in terms of revenue. Desktop publishing pioneer Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) competes with Figma and Canva with its Adobe XD vector design tool. It's growing its overall business at a 10% to 11% pace for the fourth consecutive year.
Growth is slowing for Figma. Revenue rose 46% through the first three months of this year. Last month it announced 41% year-over-year growth for the second quarter, its first report as a public company. Don't let that deter you from this opportunity to pick up Figma at a deep discount to its summertime high. Figma is now profitable. It's also growing in popularity. Its customers are digging in with Figma. Its net dollar retention rate for customers with annual recurring revenue north of $10,000 is currently 129%. Put another way, major returning accounts are spending 29% more over the past year through Figma than the prior 12 months.
The stock isn't cheap at 28 times trailing revenue and a forward earnings multiple approaching 200. This will scare many investors away and attract short sellers. Let it happen, Figma investors. When Canva surges on its IPO it will only draw more attention to the smaller player growing a lot faster.
2. Axon
If you're comfortable with Figma-esque multiples, but want a more seasoned public company, Axon fits the bill. There's a good chance that it has video evidence of its success. Axon is the leading provider of wearable body cameras used by law enforcement and other groups to record confrontations and events. It also runs Evidence.com, the cloud-based platform that stores its growing video files. Oh, it's also still making its iconic TASER stun guns.
Axon is trading for 24 times revenue and 180 times earnings. It's not for the squeamish, but it has always climbed the valuation wall of worry. It's a 30-bagger over the past decade, and a still market-thumping 7-bagger over the last five years. It has earned the upticks. Annual revenue growth has topped 20% in each of the past 10 years, and business is actually picking up lately. This will be the third consecutive year of better-than-30% top-line growth. Customers pay Axon a premium for the security it provides. Investors pay a premium on Axon for the growth it provides.
3. Toast
Toast rounds out this list of companies providing tech tools to enhance the unlikely markets of site design, enforcement, and in this case restaurant stocks. Toast provides a cloud-based solution for eateries that is more than just the point-of-sale transaction settler that diners see. It helps operators manage everything including inventory, loyalty programs, table turns, and third-party delivery orders.
Success breeds success. Toast is becoming an essential investment in the cutthroat restaurant industry. The 148,000 different locations it's currently serving is a 24% jump over the past year. There are currently challenges for the industry, but wait until Toast's growth is more than just its expansion rate. The secret sauce to Toast is when operators dig deeper into its growing ecosystem. When the eatery space bounces back, Toast will spring even higher. The valuation multiples are lower than Figma and Axon, but is has the same scalability and dynamic runway for growth. Order up.
Should you invest $1,000 in Figma right now?
Before you buy stock in Figma, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Figma wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $621,976!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,150,085!*
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*Stock Advisor returns as of September 29, 2025
Rick Munarriz has positions in Axon Enterprise and Toast. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Axon Enterprise, and Toast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

3 Growth Stocks to Invest $1,000 In Right Now

The Hidden Opportunities in AI

Key Points
Alphabet has a lot of growth opportunities still ahead in multiple areas.
Meanwhile, the stock is still attractively priced.
The recent sell-off in Toast stock looks like a major overreaction.
Even with the market near all-time highs, there are still great stocks trading at valuation levels that leave plenty of upside for patient investors. Two that stand out to me right now are Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Toast (NYSE: TOST). Both have attractive valuations given where these businesses are headed over the next few years.
Alphabet
Alphabet has put a lot of the bear arguments to bed. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not disrupting Google Search; instead, it is a complement that is helping drive growth. Search revenue growth accelerated last quarter as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are bringing in more queries, as are features such as Lens and Circle to Search.
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The Department of Justice decision was another major win because Alphabet gets to keep its distribution edge with Chrome and Android, and its Apple deal stays largely intact. Billions of people still start their internet sessions with Google, and most users stick with the defaults they are given.
Cloud computing, meanwhile, continues to be one of Alphabet's most exciting opportunities. Google Cloud revenue surged 32% last quarter and segment profits more than doubled, as the business is showing strong operating leverage as it scales. Demand for AI infrastructure is so hot that Alphabet said capacity constraints may last into next year. As a result, it upped its capital expenditures (capex) for this year by $10 billion to $85 billion to capture this growing opportunity.
What sets Alphabet apart, though, is that it is vertically integrated, which gives it a cost advantage and more upsell opportunities. Gemini has become one of the best foundation large language models (LLMs) out there, while it is also a leader in other areas such as data analytics and Kubernetes, which are software packages that bundle apps with everything they need to run. Its also developed its own highly regarded custom AI chips, and even owns one of the largest private fiber networks in the world. Its pending acquisition of Wiz, meanwhile, will help establish it as a leader in data center security.
But that's not Alphabet's only big shot on goal. Its Waymo robotaxi business has a big head start in the U.S. and is expanding quickly. Meanwhile, its quantum computing team is making progress on error rates with its Willow chip. Put all of that together and Alphabet has a lot of growth opportunities in the years ahead. Best of all, the stock is still attractively priced, trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 24 times 2026 analyst earnings estimates.
Toast
Toast has been growing quickly, but the stock has come under pressure after analysts at Baird noted that the maker of restaurant management software recently slashed prices for its starter kits. However, these price cuts need some context. These are generally starter packages for smaller restaurants. Toast's annual recurring revenue (ARR) -- which is its software revenue plus payment processing gross profits -- is nearly $13,000 per location, so these cuts on a small subset of its business aren't going to have a huge impact.
However, the price reductions do give it a better chance to get into newer restaurants that are just opening up, and if it can help make them successful, it will benefit down the line. Its payment processing fees, also notably, haven't changed. This gives it the opportunity to grow with new customers over time, both through payment processing and as restaurants need more modules as they grow.
The company just added a record 8,500 new locations in the last quarter, so it's not suddenly slashing prices because business has fallen off a cliff. Meanwhile, it continues to benefit from the trend of households continuing to spend more money on food away from home. Toast is also gaining traction with enterprise chains, grocery stores, and in international markets, which gives it multiple new growth levers outside its core U.S. restaurant base.
With the pullback, the stock now trades at an enterprise value-to-ARR multiple of 9 times my 2025 ARR projections of $2.1 billion based on company estimates, which is inexpensive given that ARR is growing close to 30% a year. This sell-off looks way overdone, and now is a great time to pick up the stock on this pullback.
Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now?
Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,280!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,084,802!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,058% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 189% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of September 22, 2025
Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet and Toast. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Toast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

My 2 Favorite Stocks to Buy Right Now

In the latest close session, Toast (TOST) was down 1.13% at $37.53. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.29%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.37%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.34%.
Coming into today, shares of the restaurant software provider had lost 13.49% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 8.98%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.08%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Toast in its upcoming release. On that day, Toast is projected to report earnings of $0.25 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 257.14%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.59 billion, up 21.87% from the year-ago period.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $0.97 per share and revenue of $6.07 billion, indicating changes of +3133.33% and +22.44%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Toast. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. At present, Toast boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
From a valuation perspective, Toast is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 39.13. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 31.03 for its industry.
The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 76, finds itself in the top 31% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Toast (TOST) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Below is Validea's guru fundamental report for TOAST INC (TOST). Of the 22 guru strategies we follow, TOST rates highest using our P/B Growth Investor model based on the published strategy of Partha Mohanram. This growth model looks for low book-to-market stocks that exhibit characteristics associated with sustained future growth.
TOAST INC (TOST) is a large-cap growth stock in the Software & Programming industry. The rating using this strategy is 66% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
Detailed Analysis of TOAST INC
More Information on Partha Mohanram
About Partha Mohanram: Sometimes the best investing strategies don't come from the world of investing. Sometimes research that changes the investing world can come from the halls of academia. Partha Mohanram is a great example of this. While academic research has shown that value investing works over time, it has found the opposite for growth investing. Mohanram turned that research on its head by developing a growth model that produced significant market outperformance. His research paper "Separating Winners from Losers among Low Book-to-Market Stocks using Financial Statement Analysis" looked at the criteria that can be used to separate growth stocks that continue their upward trajectory from those that don't. Mohanram is currently the John H. Watson Chair in Value Investing at the University of Toronto and was previously an Associate Professor at the Columbia Business School.
Additional Research Links
About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

TOST Quantitative Stock Analysis

Among the underlying components of the Russell 3000 index, we saw noteworthy options trading volume today in Toast Inc (Symbol: TOST), where a total of 61,054 contracts have traded so far, representing approximately 6.1 million underlying shares. That amounts to about 74.5% of TOST's average daily trading volume over the past month of 8.2 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $38.50 strike call option expiring September 26, 2025, with 7,010 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 701,000 underlying shares of TOST. Below is a chart showing TOST's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $38.50 strike highlighted in orange:
Applied Digital Corporation (Symbol: APLD) saw options trading volume of 192,791 contracts, representing approximately 19.3 million underlying shares or approximately 73.3% of APLD's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 26.3 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $30 strike call option expiring November 21, 2025, with 8,642 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 864,200 underlying shares of APLD. Below is a chart showing APLD's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $30 strike highlighted in orange:
And Alaska Air Group, Inc. (Symbol: ALK) saw options trading volume of 20,886 contracts, representing approximately 2.1 million underlying shares or approximately 71.8% of ALK's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 2.9 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $70 strike call option expiring January 16, 2026, with 9,785 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 978,500 underlying shares of ALK. Below is a chart showing ALK's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $70 strike highlighted in orange:
For the various different available expirations for TOST options, APLD options, or ALK options, visit StockOptionsChannel.com.
Also see:
SRT YTD Return
Hologic YTD Return
BX MACD
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Notable Monday Option Activity: TOST, APLD, ALK

Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which measures momentum on a scale of zero to 100. A stock is considered to be oversold if the RSI reading falls below 30.
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Toast Inc (Symbol: TOST) entered into oversold territory, hitting an RSI reading of 29.1, after changing hands as low as $39.345 per share. By comparison, the current RSI reading of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is 59.7. A bullish investor could look at TOST's 29.1 RSI reading today as a sign that the recent heavy selling is in the process of exhausting itself, and begin to look for entry point opportunities on the buy side. The chart below shows the one year performance of TOST shares:
Looking at the chart above, TOST's low point in its 52 week range is $23.06 per share, with $49.66 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $39.90.
Also see:
CHW shares outstanding history
SBSI Videos
KCE Options Chain
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Toast Enters Oversold Territory (TOST)

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF (Symbol: VBK) where we have detected an approximate $121.1 million dollar outflow -- that's a 0.6% decrease week over week (from 68,722,261 to 68,317,192). Among the largest underlying components of VBK, in trading today PTC Inc (Symbol: PTC) is down about 2.6%, SoFi Technologies Inc (Symbol: SOFI) is off about 0.8%, and Toast Inc (Symbol: TOST) is lower by about 0.5%. For a complete list of holdings, visit the VBK Holdings page » The chart below shows the one year price performance of VBK, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, VBK's low point in its 52 week range is $214.77 per share, with $304.59 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $296.01. Comparing the most recent share price to the 200 day moving average can also be a useful technical analysis technique -- learn more about the 200 day moving average ».
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) trade just like stocks, but instead of ''shares'' investors are actually buying and selling ''units''. These ''units'' can be traded back and forth just like stocks, but can also be created or destroyed to accommodate investor demand. Each week we monitor the week-over-week change in shares outstanding data, to keep a lookout for those ETFs experiencing notable inflows (many new units created) or outflows (many old units destroyed). Creation of new units will mean the underlying holdings of the ETF need to be purchased, while destruction of units involves selling underlying holdings, so large flows can also impact the individual components held within ETFs.
Also see:
Insider Buying
WRI Historical Stock Prices
PTIX YTD Return
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.