We came across a bullish thesis on Toast, Inc. on Nikhs’s Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on TOST. Toast, Inc.’s share was trading at $27.33 as of February 13th. TOST’s trailing and forward P/E were 48.80 and 21.19 respectively according to Yahoo Finance.
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Toast, Inc. (Toast) is rapidly establishing itself as the foundational integration layer for the restaurant industry, powering 156,000 locations, up 23% YoY, and processing $51.5 billion in gross payment volume. Unlike traditional analyses focusing on point-of-sale hardware or payment processing, Toast’s true moat lies in controlling the full operational workflow, connecting transactions, inventory, labor, marketing, and AI-driven insights via Toast IQ.
This unified system creates high switching costs, embeds operational muscle memory, and positions the company as the central nervous system linking restaurants to millions of guests, with the emerging guest identity graph enabling demand aggregation. The core SMB business operates at a 40% EBITDA margin, providing a “profit sanctuary” that funds strategic expansion into enterprise, international, and retail verticals. Notable enterprise wins, including Nordstrom and TGI Fridays, validate the platform’s ability to replace complex legacy systems, while international SaaS ARPU growth of 20% YoY demonstrates scalable opportunity abroad.
Food and beverage retail, including specialty grocers, represents a further adjacent market for deployment with minimal incremental investment. Management’s disciplined strategy prioritizes long-term growth over short-term margin maximization, echoing the playbooks of Microsoft Windows and Amazon AWS.
While risks remain—durability of core margins, enterprise execution, international adoption, and credit quality in Toast Capital—the company’s execution track record and profitable cash engine provide a strong foundation. At $37 per share, even the base case scenario implies 54% upside, with the bull case more than doubling the stock, highlighting a compelling risk-reward for investors who recognize Toast’s role not merely as a SaaS provider but as the essential operational platform shaping the future of food service.
Previously, we covered a bullish thesis on Toast, Inc. (TOST) by Nikhs in March 2025, which highlighted the company’s vertical integration, rapid restaurant adoption, AI-driven insights, and margin expansion, culminating in a $1.34 billion revenue figure. TOST’s stock price has depreciated by approximately 23.82% since our coverage. Nikhs shares a similar view but emphasizes Toast’s evolution into the foundational integration layer for restaurants, creating a “profit sanctuary” that funds multi-market expansion.
Toast, Inc. is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 56 hedge fund portfolios held TOST at the end of the third quarter which was 67 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of TOST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TOST and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None.
