We recently published a list of 15 Hot Tech Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE:PAR) stands against other hot tech stocks to buy right now.
In 2024, the S&P 500 IT Sector Index outperformed the broader S&P 500 Index, rising approximately 36% compared to a 23% increase in the latter. This performance was underpinned by emerging trends and innovations, particularly generative AI (GenAI) and the huge investments that went into creating the infrastructure to support the growth of such technologies.
According to Gartner, the year 2025 might see a further uptick in investments. In its January 21, 2025 report, Gartner forecasts Worldwide IT spending to grow 9.8% year-over-year in 2025 to total $5.61 trillion. Among the segments, data center systems, devices, and software are projected to see double-digit growth in 2025 primarily due to GenAI hardware upgrades.
While increasing investment is a positive sign, John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, shared the complex intricacies of these investments in the report:
“While budgets for CIOs are increasing, a significant portion will merely offset price increases within their recurrent spending. This means that, in 2025, nominal spending versus real IT spending will be skewed, with price hikes absorbing some or all of budget growth. All major categories are reflecting higher-than-expected prices, prompting CIOs to defer and scale back their true budget expectations.
IT services companies and hyperscalers account for over 70% of spending in 2025. By 2028, hyperscalers will operate $1 trillion dollars’ worth of AI optimized servers, but not within their traditional business model or IaaS Market. Hyperscalers are pivoting to be part of the oligopoly AI model market.”
As indicated by these forecasts, technology continues to remain an exciting space in 2025.
Our Methodology
To shortlist the 15 hot tech stocks to buy, we screened companies with a market capitalization of at least $2 billion, more than 20% share price gains in the last 6 months and a potential upside of at least 20%. The stocks were then arranged in ascending order of their potential upside to arrive at the final list. We also included the number of hedge fund holders for each company based on hedge fund data from Insider Monkey’s database.
Note: all pricing data is as of market close on February 4.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
An engineer working in a tech lab, surrounded by tools and components.
PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE:PAR)
Upside Potential: 25%
Number of Hedge Funds: 24
PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE:PAR) develops and markets products and software that help hospitality operators worldwide to better manage finances, materials, personnel, and the guest experience. Its product and service offerings include point-of-sale (PoS) systems, customer engagement and loyalty programs, digital ordering and delivery solutions, operational intelligence technologies, and payment processing services. Currently, over 100,000 restaurants utilize its software, and the company has deployed 500,000 terminals globally.
PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE:PAR) stands out by offering a diverse range of hardware products and a unified technology platform that provides integrated solutions and advanced data insights. The increasing use of technology in the hospitality and retail sectors is driving demand for the company’s products. In early January 2025, PAR Technology acquired Delaget LLC, a leading provider of restaurant analytics and business intelligence solutions, for $132 million. Delaget boasts an impressive portfolio, servicing over 30,000 locations and more than 125 brands. Savneet Singh, the company’s CEO and President, remarked:
“The acquisition of Delaget marks another strategic milestone in PAR’s mission to build the industry’s most comprehensive food service platform. Delaget’s analytics capabilities perfectly complement our Operator Cloud solution, while offering immediate value to our customers through enhanced back-office capabilities, delivery operations, and data-driven insights. Our combination will help restaurant operators make better decisions, reduce costs, and drive operational excellence in real-time. Access to the Delaget product suite will accelerate development timeframes of the PAR Data Platform, a major initiative that unites data across a restaurant’s tech stack to provide unparalleled guest and operational insights.”
Overall, PAR ranks 11th on our list of hot tech stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of PAR to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PAR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.