ServiceNow (NOW) Stock Jumps on Strong Earnings—Is It Time to Buy?

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) surged past Wall Street expectations in its first-quarter 2026 report, and the stock has kept climbing in the weeks since. Shares closed at $113.03 on May 28, up nearly 30 % from their mid-April lows and extending a rally that began right after the earnings release. In Q1 2026 the workflow-automation leader delivered subscription revenue of $3.67 billion, a 22 % year-over-year jump, while total revenue reached $3.77 billion. Free cash flow expanded 44 % to $1.67 billion, and operating margin on a non-GAAP basis hit 32 %. Management also raised full-year subscription-revenue guidance to as much as $15.78 billion, citing strong demand for its AI-native platform and the early contribution from the Armis acquisition. Why the momentum matters • AI growth engine: CEO Bill McDermott calls ServiceNow the “AI control tower for business.” New products such as Autonomous Workforce and EmployeeWorks are landing multimillion-dollar deals, with customers spending over $1 million in annual contract value rising 130 % YoY. • Expanding total addressable market: The Armis and Veza acquisitions integrate real-time asset discovery and identity control, strengthening ServiceNow’s security stack. Management estimates the combined moves add more than $10 billion to TAM. • Aggressive buybacks: The company repurchased about 20.1 million shares last quarter, leaving $4.2 billion authorized for future buybacks, a potential catalyst for earnings-per-share accretion. • Analyst tailwinds: Bank of America, JP Morgan and Evercore have reiterated overweight ratings this month, with several price targets now clustering between $125 and $135 after the strong print. Key levels to watch Technically, NOW cleared resistance at $105 and is probing the post-split high near $114. A decisive breakout could open a path toward the 52-week peak at $211 (pre-split basis), while support rests around the 50-day moving average near $100. Bottom line With record cRPO of $12.64 billion, accelerating free-cash-flow generation, and a broadened AI portfolio, ServiceNow is positioning itself as a top-tier compounder in enterprise software. For investors tracking “NOW stock,” the combination of double-digit revenue growth, expanding margins and shareholder-friendly capital returns makes the ticker one of the market’s most compelling AI plays heading into the second half of 2026.