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ServiceNow (NOW) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $277.27, moving +0.41% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of software that automates companies' technology operations had lost 0.58% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 2.54%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.48%.

NOW will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.88, up 14.29% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $942.59 million, up 31.75% from the year-ago period.

NOW's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.24 per share and revenue of $3.45 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +30.12% and +32.29%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for NOW. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. NOW is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note NOW's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 85.27. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 21.11, which means NOW is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that NOW has a PEG ratio of 3.05 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NOW's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.95 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 168, 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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