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

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ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) closed at $439.63 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.27% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.57% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.43%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.33%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of software that automates companies' technology operations had gained 2.21% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 7.94%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.72%.

ServiceNow will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.02, up 16.76% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.09 billion, up 21.39% from the prior-year quarter.

NOW's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.15 per share and revenue of $8.85 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +20.55% and +22.2%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ServiceNow. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.45% higher within the past month. ServiceNow is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ServiceNow has a Forward P/E ratio of 47.9 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.2.

It is also worth noting that NOW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.69. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. NOW's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.39 as of yesterday's close.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, which puts it in the bottom 35% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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