Should I Buy DAY? DAY 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Dayforce Inc (DAY) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

1 Day change

1.35%

52 Week Range

69.860

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/04

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Not a good buy right now for a new position: the stock is trading at ~~69.97 versus a $70.00 all-cash takeout, leaving **near-zero upside (~~0.04%)** while still carrying deal/timing risk.
Best-fit action: if you already own shares, hold into close for the cash payout; if you don’t own it, don’t chase because the risk/reward is asymmetrically unfavorable for an impatient buyer.
Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals
- AI Stock Picker: no signal on given stock today.
- SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Technical Analysis

Price is effectively pinned to the deal price area; movement is constrained by the announced $70 cash consideration.
MACD histogram positive and expanding (0.0118): mild bullish momentum, but largely consistent with merger-arb “pinning.”
RSI(6) ~69.5: near the upper end of neutral/approaching overbought, suggesting limited incremental upside from here.
Key levels: Pivot 69.353; Resistance R2 69.952 (price is essentially at/near this), Support S1 68.982—technically, there’s more room down than up relative to the $70 cap.

Options Data

Bearish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Open interest is put-heavy (put OI 37,946 vs call OI 18,243; OI put/call 2.08), which typically reflects downside hedging / caution into a known event.
Today’s options volume is 0, so the volume-based ratios aren’t informative today; sentiment is better inferred from open interest positioning.
IV context: 30D IV ~12.76, IV percentile ~35 and IV rank ~6.35 suggest no extreme fear premium—consistent with a market expecting closure but still hedged.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Regulatory approvals received; company stated the Thoma Bravo sale is expected to close within ~five business days with $70.00/share cash consideration.
- Prior update reaffirmed the deal is on track for mid-February completion (reduces uncertainty vs earlier timelines).
- If the deal closes as guided, holders realize a known cash outcome imminently (low duration exposure).

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Upside is capped at (or extremely near) $70 while deal risk remains non-zero (timing, closing mechanics, unforeseen conditions).
- Put-heavy open interest can indicate continued hedging against a small probability of adverse outcomes.
- Earnings calendar (QDEC 2025 on 2026-02-09) could introduce headline risk/confusion, though the pending acquisition may reduce its relevance (and the stock is still bounded by the deal value).

Financial Performance

Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3
Revenue: 481.6M, +9.45% YoY (solid top-line growth).
Profitability: Net income -196.8M (material deterioration YoY); EPS -1.23.
Gross margin: 53.53%, up YoY.
Practical takeaway: fundamentals are currently secondary because the stock is trading primarily on deal-close probability and timing rather than standalone valuation.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

No explicit analyst rating/target change data was provided in the feed.
In takeout situations like this, Wall Street typically converges targets near the cash deal price (~$70) and focuses commentary on close probability and timeline.
Pros view (implied): regulatory approvals and stated close timeline support high completion odds.
Cons view (implied): with the spread essentially gone, the trade-off becomes tiny remaining return vs residual deal risk, which is unattractive for new buyers.

10 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast DAY stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for DAY is 70 USD with a low forecast of 70 USD and a high forecast of 70 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

0 Buy

10 Hold

0 Sell

Hold

Current: 69.860

Low

Averages

High

Current: 69.860

Low

Averages

High

Stifel

Buy

Hold

downgrade

$72 -> $70

AI Analysis

2025-09-18

Reason

Stifel

Price Target

$72 -> $70

AI Analysis

2025-09-18

downgrade

Buy

Hold

Reason

Stifel downgraded Dayforce to Hold from Buy with a price target of $70, down from $72, after the company agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $70 per share or $12.3B.

Citi

Steven Enders

Buy

Neutral

downgrade

$70

2025-09-17

Reason

Citi

Steven Enders

Price Target

$70

2025-09-17

downgrade

Buy

Neutral

Reason

Citi analyst Steven Enders downgraded Dayforce to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $70 after the company agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $70 per share or $12.3B.

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DAY Should I Buy

DAY Should I Buy

Should You Buy Dayforce Inc (DAY) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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