SQ vs TOST Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
SQ (Block) is a more diversified fintech ecosystem spanning small business payments (Square) and consumer financial services (Cash App), while TOST (Toast) is a highly specialized restaurant technology and payments platform with deep vertical integration. Both serve merchant payments but with very different scope and customer focus.
SQ vs TOST compares a diversified fintech platform spanning merchants and consumers against a vertically specialized restaurant technology company, both growing in the broader commerce payments landscape.
SQ and TOST are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.
- →Want exposure to a diversified fintech ecosystem spanning merchant POS and consumer financial services
- →Value Cash App's growing financial services monetization as a large consumer platform
- →Are comfortable with Bitcoin exposure through Block's various crypto-related businesses
- →Want focused exposure to the leading restaurant technology platform
- →Value Toast's deep vertical integration and high switching costs in the restaurant vertical
- →Believe the restaurant industry's technology modernization provides a long-term adoption tailwind
| Metric | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | N/A | 23.3 |
| AI rank | N/A | #3651 |
| Latest close | N/A | $24.66 |
| 1M return | N/A | +6.20% |
| 6M return | N/A | -30.54% |
| 1Y return | N/A | -42.09% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | N/A | $5.79K (-42.1%) started 2025-06-18 |
| 5Y ago | N/A | $3.94K (-60.6%) started 2021-09-22 |
| 10Y ago | N/A | $3.94K (-60.6%) started 2021-09-22 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | N/A | $14.3B |
| Trailing P/E | N/A | 36.81 |
| Forward P/E | N/A | 14.53 |
| Price/Sales | 2.46 | 2.22 |
| EV/Revenue | N/A | 1.98 |
| Analyst target | N/A | $33.88 |
| Target upside | N/A | +37.39% |
| Metric | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | N/A | 21.90% |
| Earnings growth | N/A | 123.00% |
| EPS growth | N/A | +123.00% |
| FCF margin | N/A | +9.12% |
| Operating margin | N/A | N/A |
| Profit margin | N/A | 6.39% |
| ROIC proxy | N/A | 22.50% |
| Return on equity | N/A | 22.50% |
| Dividend yield | N/A | 0.00% |
| Beta | 1.54 | 1.76 |
| Debt/equity | N/A | 0.85 |
| Current ratio | N/A | 2.44 |
| Quick ratio | N/A | 1.79 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | N/A | -42.09% |
| CAGR | N/A | -42.11% | |
| Sharpe ratio | N/A | -1.05 | |
| Max drawdown | N/A | 54.71% | |
| Max daily drop | N/A | 14.74% | |
| Max wkly drop | N/A | 21.48% | |
| 5Y | Growth | N/A | -60.55% |
| CAGR | N/A | -17.83% | |
| Sharpe ratio | N/A | -0.09 | |
| Max drawdown | N/A | 80.56% | |
| Max daily drop | N/A | 22.84% | |
| Max wkly drop | N/A | 36.74% | |
| 10Y | Growth | N/A | -60.55% |
| CAGR | N/A | -17.83% | |
| Sharpe ratio | N/A | -0.09 | |
| Max drawdown | N/A | 80.56% | |
| Max daily drop | N/A | 22.84% | |
| Max wkly drop | N/A | 36.74% |
| Category | SQ | TOST |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Block, Inc. | Toast, Inc. |
| Sector | Information Technology - Fintech | Information Technology - Restaurant Technology |
| Industry | N/A | N/A |
| Core business | Block (formerly Square) operates a two-sided ecosystem comprising Square (payment processing, POS, and business tools for small businesses), Cash App (consumer peer-to-peer payments and financial services), and Bitcoin-related products. | Toast provides an integrated point-of-sale, payment processing, and restaurant management platform specifically designed for the restaurant industry, serving tens of thousands of restaurant locations across the U.S. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Cash App's monthly active users and monetization (lending, investing), Square's gross profit growth from small business payments, and Block's Bitcoin strategy through Spiral and Cash App. | Investors track Toast's restaurant location count growth, gross payment volume (GPV), annual recurring revenue from software subscriptions, and path to profitability as the platform scales. |
- →Two-sided ecosystem connecting consumer (Cash App) and merchant (Square) creates a unique loop
- →Cash App has scaled into a major consumer financial services platform with strong user engagement
- →Bitcoin exposure through Cash App and Spiral provides optionality to the crypto market
- →Purpose-built platform for restaurants provides deep vertical integration unavailable from horizontal POS providers
- →High switching costs once a restaurant integrates Toast's ordering, kitchen display, payroll, and payment systems
- →Large and growing customer base across quick-service, casual, and full-service restaurant segments
- →Consumer credit losses through Cash App Borrow require careful monitoring as lending scales
- →Bitcoin price volatility creates earnings variability from Bitcoin-related revenue streams
- →Competition from Stripe, PayPal, and other fintech platforms in the small business payments market
- →Restaurant industry sensitivity — economic downturns that reduce restaurant traffic directly reduce Toast's payment volumes
- →Faces competition from Lightspeed and other restaurant POS providers, as well as general POS companies expanding into restaurants
- →Path to GAAP profitability has required continued optimization of unit economics
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