Critical Analysis: Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) versus PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR)

PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR) and Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for PAR Technology and Bentley Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PAR Technology	1	2	5	0	2.50
Bentley Systems	0	5	9	1	2.73

PAR Technology currently has a consensus target price of $24.61, indicating a potential upside of 53.32%. Bentley Systems has a consensus target price of $44.38, indicating a potential upside of 26.60%. Given PAR Technology’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe PAR Technology is more favorable than Bentley Systems.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PAR Technology and Bentley Systems”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PAR Technology	$455.55 million	1.46	-$84.46 million	($1.76)	-9.12
Bentley Systems	$1.50 billion	6.78	$277.86 million	$0.91	38.53

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

44.2% of Bentley Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of PAR Technology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of Bentley Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares PAR Technology and Bentley Systems’ 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%
Bentley Systems	18.10%	28.43%	9.69%

Volatility and Risk

PAR Technology has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bentley Systems has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bentley Systems beats PAR Technology on 12 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 Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure engineering software solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers open modeling engineering applications, such as MicroStation, OpenBridge, OpenBuildings, OpenCities, OpenComms, OpenFlows, OpenPlant, OpenRail, OpenRoads, OpenSite, OpenTower, OpenTunnel, OpenUtilities, and OpenWindowPower; and open simulation engineering applications, including ADINA, AutoPIPE, CUBE, DYNAMEQ, EMME, LEGION, Power Line Systems, RAM, SACS, SPIDA, and STAAD; and geoprofessional applications for modeling and simulation of near and deep subsurface conditions, including AGS, Central, GeoStudio, Imago, Leapfrog, MX Deposit, Oasis montaj, OpenGround, and PLAXIS. It also provides infrastructure cloud applications, such as ProjectWise, SYNCHRO, and AssetWise, as well as iTwin platform that enables users to create and curate cloud native 4D/5D digital representations of physical infrastructure assets consisting of iTwin Capture, iTwin Experience, and iTwin IoT platforms. The company serves civil, structural, geotechnical, subsurface, process engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, city and regional planners, contractors, fabricators, and operations and maintenance engineers. Bentley Systems, Incorporated was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.