ServiceNow has over 8,100 customers who operate in in a wide variety of industries, including government, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, IT services, technology, oil and gas, telecommunications, education and consumer products while the portion of revenues generated by sales to government customers has also increased over time.

Among its customers are notable major players such as AT&T, Chipotle, Zoom, Desjardins, and the US Army:

ServiceNow – Investor Day

It organizes its workflow applications into four main areas: Technology, Creator Customer and Industry, and Employee.

  • Technology Workflows: Enabling IT departments to manage the entire technology lifecycle, including planning, building, operating, and servicing.
  • Creator Workflows: Empowering customers to quickly create, test, and deploy their applications on the Now Platform.
  • Customer and Industry Workflows: Helping organizations to enhance the customer experience and build loyalty by reimagining their customer service processes.
  • Employee Workflows: Simplifying how employees access services, providing a consumer-like experience for getting work done.

ServiceNow – Investor Day

The Now Platform, with its single data model, enhances productivity by automating and simplifying manual processes. It connects systems and organizations to deliver seamless workflows, significantly improving both employee and customer experiences. By integrating with customers' chosen cloud platforms and systems, the Now Platform enables the creation and management of workflows across existing and future systems of record and collaboration tools, ensuring consistent and efficient operations.

For the past couple of years, ServiceNow has adhered to the “Rule of 50,” a metric that combines revenue growth and free cash flow over the last twelve months. As shown in the graph below, ServiceNow leads significantly with a remarkable 54%, followed by Adobe at 46%, Salesforce at 38%, and Workday at 42%.

ServiceNow – Investor Day

To enhance its platform's capabilities, ServiceNow partners with major actors across industries, divided into three categories:

  • Strategic SI Partners: Provide consulting and implementation services.
  • Hyperscalers & Tech Partners: Leverage leading technology and cloud infrastructure.
  • Reseller Partners: Extend market reach and offer localized support.

ServiceNow – Investor Day

Recent business highlights for ServiceNow include strategic moves such as Now Assist, its GenAI-powered experience, recorded the largest net new ACV contribution for any new product family. The Washington, D.C. Platform release brought innovations like Now Assist for ITOM AIOps and Impact AI Accelerators. In partnership with NVIDIA and Hugging Face, ServiceNow released StarCoder2 for code generation and accessed NVIDIA NIM inference microservices, introducing new telco-specific GenAI solutions.

ServiceNow acquired 4Industry, EY Smart Daily Management Application, and Atrinet NetACE to advance smart industrial environments and telco business transformation. A $500 million investment in Saudi Arabia aims to support business transformation and digital skills development, including new data centers. The company also made a strategic investment in AoraNow to develop tech talent in Japan.

4Industry

It maintains an impressive renewal rate, consistently around 98-99% reflecting strong customer satisfaction and loyalty, ensuring a stable revenue stream and fostering long-term business relationships.

ServiceNow – Investor Day

In 2023, all three regions experienced revenue growth. North America's revenue rose to $5.7B from $4.723B in 2022 and $3.752B in 2021. EMEA's revenue increased to $2.298B from $1.778B in 2022 and $1.551B in 2021. Asia's revenue grew to $971 million from $744 million in 2022 and $593 million in 2021. Digital workflow products accounted for the majority of business revenue with $7.679B (88% of net sales), while IT Operations Management (ITOM) products contributed $1.001B (12%).

MarketScreener – Income Statement

ServiceNow's EBITDA increased from $2.293B in 2022 to $3.051B in 2023, with projections to reach $5.849B in 2026. The operating margin grew from 25% in 2021 to 27.8% in 2023, with an expected increase to 32% by 2026. Net margin improved significantly from 3.9% in 2021 to 19.3% in 2023, representing a 394% increase, though it is anticipated to decrease to 11.9% in 2024 and reach 14% in 2026. The company maintained high free cash flow (FCF), reaching $2.728B in 2023 and projected to be $5.199B in 2026. ServiceNow enjoyed a return on equity (ROE) between 35% and 50% from 2017 to 2023, though it is expected to decrease to 32% in 2024 and 27% in 2026. Return on assets (ROA) is projected to fall below 10% in 2024 for the first time since 2017.

MarketScreener – Balance Sheet

The main drawback is its valuation, with a five-year average P/E ratio of 384.5x, which is extremely high. The company has set such a high bar that even strong financial results may not suffice; they will need to be exceptional to prevent a significant drop in stock value. The P/E ratio is projected to be 124x in 2024, 97x in 2025, and 76x in 2026.

In Q1 2024, the company reported robust financial results. Subscription revenues grew by 25% year-over-year to $2.523 billion, and total revenues increased by 24% to $2.603 billion. The current remaining performance obligations reached $8.45 billion, a 21% year-over-year growth. Additionally, there were eight transactions with net new ACV over $5 million, highlighting strong market demand. The company also repurchased 225,000 shares for $175 million, with $787 million remaining for future repurchases.

The expansion of business operations heightens exposure to cyberattacks from various actors. The increasing reliance on third-party providers and public cloud infrastructure introduces new cybersecurity risks to business operations. Dependence on third-party service providers and technologies to operate business systems in diverse contexts has led to a rise in supply chain attacks, which have become more frequent and severe. In addition to cybersecurity threats, other significant risks include macroeconomic, competitive pressures and financial conditions.

As noted earlier, ServiceNow generates the majority of its revenue from North America, with 94% coming from the US. Diversification is crucial for its next phase of development. The company aims to expand into future $1B+ markets like the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, and France, while also building high-growth markets in India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and the ASEAN region.

ServiceNow – Investor Day

The company is well-positioned for future development, with artificial intelligence poised as its next major growth driver, already integrated into its solutions. Despite facing significant and growing competition, ServiceNow continues to achieve rising revenues and sustain high margins. The outlook for this high-quality company remains very promising.

MarketScreener – Ratings