ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) spiked 15.5% at 9.55am, as the company posted a blowout Q1 and raised its full-year outlookjust enough to get analysts nodding and investors leaning back in. Subscription revenue clocked in at $3.01 billion, up 19% year-over-year, and current remaining performance obligations (cRPO) hit $10.3 billion, beating expectations and signaling sticky enterprise demand. Management lifted full-year subscription guidance to $12.7 billion, despite macro jitters tied to tariffs and federal budget shifts. The stock’s still down 24% year-to-datebut this print might be the spark that shifts the narrative.
Behind the scenes, ServiceNow’s AI game is moving fast. The company doubled down on agentic AIcustom-built digital agents that automate workflows across HR, IT, and telecom. It’s not just smoke and mirrors: these tools, built on NVIDIA (NVDA) AI, are already helping telcos resolve issues faster and serve customers better. Meanwhile, its public sector push is gaining traction with a new Government Transformation Suite built for transparency and ROI. And if that’s not enough, ServiceNow is rolling up capabilities fast with planned acquisitions of Moveworks and Logik.aipositioning itself as the AI layer across CRM, ops, and support.
The leadership handoff from Paul Smith to Paul Fipps (a former U.S. Army tech chief) was smooth, keeping sales momentum intact. And don’t forget the $298 million buyback this quartersignaling confidence from the top. With 508 customers now spending north of $5 million annually, and deepening partnerships with Vodafone, Google Cloud, and Aptiv, ServiceNow is carving out a defensible lead in enterprise AI. It’s not just riding the hypeit’s building the infrastructure.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.