Toast price target raised to $27 from $24 at Bernstein

Bernstein raised the firm’s price target on Toast (TOST) to $27 from $24 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares as part of a Q3 earnings preview for the payments space. Overall consumer spend decelerated slightly to 5%, with 0.5% of deceleration of volumes in Q3 likely driven by lower gas prices, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says 2024 is shaping up to be a “narrative changing year for many payment companies as underlying secular growth slow (especially in the US), and competition intensifies.”