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ServiceNow (NOW) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $511.41, moving +0.82% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.49% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.69%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.56%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of software that automates companies' technology operations had lost 3.93% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.53% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.44% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from NOW as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 27, 2021. On that day, NOW is projected to report earnings of $1.06 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 10.42%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.22 billion, up 27.96% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for NOW should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.36% lower. NOW currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that NOW has a Forward P/E ratio of 92.2 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 29.83.

Also, we should mention that NOW has a PEG ratio of 3.35. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Computers - IT Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.2 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 196, putting it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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