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PTC Inc. (PTC), headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, develops and delivers technology solutions, comprised of software and services, used by discrete manufacturers to design, operate, and maintain complex products. Valued at $24.6 billion by market cap, the company’s technology is also used to connect products to the Internet for the purpose of capturing and analyzing information from them.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap stocks,” and PTC perfectly fits that description, with its market cap exceeding this mark, underscoring its size, influence, and dominance within the software - application industry. PTC's strength lies in its established market position and technological expertise, driven by its PLM and CAD solutions, which exhibit high customer stickiness.
Despite its notable strength, PTC slipped 7.2% from its 52-week high of $219.69, achieved on Jul. 31. Over the past three months, PTC stock has gained 21.8%, outperforming the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 10.3% gains during the same time frame.
In the longer term, shares of PTC rose 10.9% on a YTD basis and climbed 16.1% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming SPX’s YTD gains of 12.2% and solid 17.1% returns over the last year.
To confirm the bullish trend, PTC has been trading above its 200-day moving average since early July. However, the stock is trading below its 50-day moving average recently.
On Jul. 30, PTC reported its Q3 results, and its shares closed up more than 6% in the following trading session. Its adjusted EPS of $1.64 beat Wall Street expectations of $1.22. The company’s revenue was $643.9 million, exceeding Wall Street forecasts of $582.4 million. PTC expects full-year adjusted EPS in the range of $6.63 to $7.03, and expects revenue to be between $2.57 billion and $2.63 billion.
In the competitive arena of software - application, ANSYS, Inc. (ANSS) has taken the lead over PTC, showing resilience with an 11% uptick on a YTD basis, but lagged behind the stock with 13.3% returns over the past 52 weeks.
Wall Street analysts are bullish on PTC’s prospects. The stock has a consensus “Strong Buy” rating from the 19 analysts covering it, and the mean price target of $226.61 suggests a potential upside of 11.1% from current price levels.
