ServiceNow Gets an Upgrade. Why It Could Be a Software Winner. -- Barrons.com

Dow Jones
Yesterday

By Angela Palumbo

ServiceNow stock was rising Monday after an analyst upgraded the shares following a deep selloff. Wall Street is trying to decipher who the software winners and losers will be as artificial intelligence capabilities ramp up.

BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski upgraded shares of ServiceNow to Outperform from Neutral and raised his price target to $140 from $120.

The stock was up 1.7% to $115.56 on Monday.

"We believe software businesses need to demonstrate core business stabilization, credible AI monetization growth, and quality margins," Slowinski wrote in a research note on Monday. "We see these qualities in ServiceNow."

Software stocks have been hammered as Wall Street worries about potential disruption to the space. AI Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have released updates to their own products that some investors believe could replace critical software functions. ServiceNow has been a victim in what's been dubbed as this " Saas-pocalypse." The stock is down 25% this year and 51% from its all-time closing high of $234.08 on Jan. 28, 2025.

While some software companies might find their capabilities disrupted, others are positioning themselves to thrive in an AI driven world. Investors are trying to parse through who the winners and losers will be, and Slowinski thinks ServiceNow is already showing signs that it will come out as a winner.

"ServiceNow is a leader in software AI monetization," Slowinski said. That's crucial, as investors are looking for software companies they think are able to make money on their own AI tech as competition heats up.

Slowinski added that ServiceNow's gen AI product -- Now Assist -- surpassed $600 million in annual contract value in the fourth quarter. That is comparable in size to Salesforce's $800 million of agentic AI annual recurring revenue, he said. However, ServiceNow's fiscal 2025 revenue of $13.3 billion was only a fraction of Salesforce's revenue of $41.5 billion.

"ServiceNow is one of our top picks alongside Microsoft and Salesforce and we believe revenue acceleration can restore its AI-winner status," Slowinski said.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

 

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March 16, 2026 14:22 ET (18:22 GMT)

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