Down 40% on the Year, Is ServiceNow Stock a Buy as Its Subscription Revenue Surges 25%?

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) continued to deliver excellent revenue growth when the software-as-a-service (SaaS) company reported its Q2 earnings; however, it once again wasn't enough to lift the beaten-down stock. There has been a narrative that AI will disrupt the software layer, and as a result, SaaS stocks have seemingly been able to do no right. As a result, ServiceNow stock is down 40% on the year.

While its stock has been struggling, ServiceNow has shown no signs of its growth slowing down. The company's platform is the backbone of its customers' entire software stacks, and it's been seeing strong growth with both its AI and cybersecurity offerings.

Accelerating growth

For Q2, ServiceNow's revenue jumped 24% year over year to $3.99 billion, while its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 11% to $0.90. That was above the $0.86 in adjusted EPS and $3.93 billion in revenue that analysts were expecting.

Subscription revenue climbed 25% year over year to $3.88 billion, while professional services revenue rose 9% to $110 million. On a constant currency basis, subscription revenue accelerated from 19% growth in Q1 to that 23% growth.

ServiceNow is seeing strength in several areas. Its AI annual contract value (ACV) surged 40% quarter over quarter to over $1 billion, and it is on track to hit $1.5 trillion by year-end. Meanwhile, it said it already has a $1 billion cybersecurity business and that it's growing faster than any other top company in the space. It added that AI Control Tower, which launched just this spring, is "supercharging" its security and risk business.

The company also highlighted the momentum it was seeing in customer relationship management (CRM). It said this is already a $2 billion ACV business and that growth has been accelerating.

Another closely watched SaaS metric is remaining performance obligations (RPO), which is deferred revenue plus backlog growth, as it can be a future revenue growth indicator. In the quarter, ServiceNow saw its RPO increase by 21% to $29 billion, while current RPO (cRPO) also increased by 21% to $13.2 billion.

Looking ahead, the company projected its Q3 subscription revenue to grow 20.5% to a range of $3.975 billion to $3.98 billion. It anticipates cRPO to increase by 19.5%. For the full year, the company raised its subscription revenue guidance to a range of $15.76 billion and $15.78 billion, representing growth of 22.5%. That was up from prior revenue guidance of $15.735 billion to $15.775 billion, representing growth of 22% to 22.5%.

The company indicated that its guidance is likely conservative and that there could be upside given its strong new net ACV.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Is the stock a buy?

Trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 5 based on 2027 analyst estimates and a forward P/E of 18, the stock looks undervalued for a company with a highly recurring business model and strong gross margins that is growing its revenue above 20%. However, valuation alone isn't a reason enough to buy the stock.

While it does face the risk of AI disruption, given how embedded its systems are in customers' workflows and data, I think this risk is minimal. I also think most organizations will not want to tie their fortunes to one AI model company, which is a big reason why having a separate software layer is important. Meanwhile, ServiceNow appears to be doing all the right things. It's leaned into both AI and cybersecurity, and it's handling business as usual.

At the same time, its AI Control Tower looks like it has strong potential to be a future growth driver. The rise of AI agents should create a big need for agentic AI orchestration platforms, and its solution looks poised to be a top option. It is designed to oversee every AI agent model running within an organization, while monitoring their performance and making sure they follow governance rules. With its acquisitions of Armis and Veza, it also has strong security protocols in place.

While it likely will require patience, I'd be a buyer of the stock.

Geoffrey Seiler has positions in ServiceNow. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ServiceNow. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.