ServiceNow Reports Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results

• Subscription revenues of $1,427 million in Q3 2021, representing 31% year‑over‑year growth, 30% adjusted for constant currency
• Current remaining performance obligations of $5.0 billion as of Q3 2021, representing 32% year‑over‑year growth, 32% adjusted for constant currency
• 1,266 total customers with over $1 million in annual contract value, representing 25% year‑over‑year growth

SANTA CLARA, Calif. ‑ October 27, 2021 ‑ ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company making work, work better for people, today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2021, with subscription revenues of $1,427 million in Q3 2021, representing 31% year‑over‑year growth, 30% adjusted for constant currency.

As of September 30, 2021, current remaining performance obligations (“cRPO”), contract revenue that will be recognized as revenue in the next 12 months, was $5.0 billion, representing 32% year‑over‑year growth and 32% adjusted for constant currency. The company now has 1,266 total customers with more than $1 million in annual contract value, representing 25% year‑over‑year growth in customers.

“We reported another significant beat and raise quarter in Q3,” said ServiceNow President and CEO Bill McDermott. “Leaders recognize their technology architecture is their business architecture. As this digital transformation market is accelerating, ServiceNow’s platform is creating unmatched customer and employee experiences. We remain hungry and humble in our pursuit of becoming the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century. Our focus is on value creation for our stakeholders by making the world work better for everyone.” 

ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono said, “Q3 was another fantastic quarter with continued outperformance across all of our growth and profitability guidance metrics. The consistency of our results exemplifies the strength of our product portfolio and the team’s focus on building deep customer relationships. We are well positioned as the workflow standard on our journey to becoming a $15+ billion revenue company.”

During the quarter, ServiceNow delivered the Now Platform Rome release, including hundreds of innovations to help companies workflow the biggest challenges of the hybrid work era and scale automation and app development across the enterprise. ServiceNow deepened its strategic partnership with Microsoft to integrate Employee Center directly with Teams and expand investments in co‑innovation and go‑to‑market efforts. The company completed the acquisitions of Swarm64, a leader in database performance and scale, and Mapwize, an indoor‑mapping and wayfinding company. ServiceNow also recently announced a strategic partnership with process mining market leader Celonis to help companies maximize the impact and return on their digital transformation investments. Furthering its vision to workflow a better world, the company accelerated its global commitment to achieve Net‑Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and introduced a new integrated ESG solution that helps companies activate ESG strategies, programs, and initiatives, from enhancing diversity and inclusion and reducing carbon emissions to enabling business resilience.

Third Quarter 2021 GAAP and Non‑GAAP Results:

The following table summarizes our financial results for the third quarter 2021:

	Third Quarter 2021 GAAP Results				Third Quarter 2021 Non‑GAAP Results(1)
	Amount ($ millions)	Year/Year Growth (%)			Amount ($ millions)	Year/Year Growth (%)		Adjusted Amount ($ millions)(2)	Adjusted Year/Year Growth (%)
Subscription revenues	$1,427	31%						$1,416	30%
Professional services and other revenues	$85	39%						$84	38%
Total revenues	$1,512	31%						$1,500	30%
Subscription billings					$1,380	28%		$1,365	26%
Professional services and other billings					$84	42%		$83	41%
Total billings					$1,465	29%		$1,450	27%
	Amount ($ billions)	Year/Year Growth (%)						Adjusted Amount ($ billions)(2)	Adjusted Year/Year Growth (%)
cRPO	$5.0	32%						$5.0	32%
RPO	$9.7	34%						$9.7	34%
	Amount ($ millions)	Margin (%)			Amount ($ millions)	Margin (%)
Subscription gross profit	$1,163	81%			$1,213	85%
Professional services and other gross profit (loss)	($1)	(1%)			$14	17%
Total gross profit	$1,162	77%			$1,227	81%
Income from operations	$74	5%			$391	26%
Net cash provided by operating activities	$320	21%
Free cash flow					$228	15%
	Amount ($ millions)	Earnings per Basic/Diluted Share ($)			Amount ($ millions)	Earnings per Basic/Diluted Share ($)
Net income	$63	$0.32/ $0.31			$314	$1.58/ $1.55

 

1. We report non‑GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the section entitled “Statement Regarding Use of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of non‑GAAP measures, and the table entitled “GAAP to Non‑GAAP Reconciliation” for a reconciliation of GAAP to non‑GAAP measures.
2. Non‑GAAP adjusted subscription revenues, professional services and other revenues, total revenues and professional services and other billings, cRPO and RPO are adjusted for constant currency. Non‑GAAP adjusted subscription billings and total billings are adjusted for constant currency and constant billings duration. See the section entitled “Statement Regarding Use of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of non‑GAAP measures, and the table entitled “GAAP to Non‑GAAP Reconciliation” for a reconciliation of GAAP to non‑GAAP measures.

Note: Numbers rounded for presentation purposes.

Financial Outlook

Our guidance includes GAAP and non‑GAAP financial measures.

The following table summarizes our guidance for the fourth quarter 2021:

	Fourth Quarter 2021 GAAP Guidance				Fourth Quarter 2021 Non‑GAAP Guidance(1)
	Amount ($ millions)(2)	Year/Year Growth (%)			Amount ($ millions)(2)		Year/Year Growth (%)
Subscription revenues	$1,515 ‑ $1,520	28%
Note: Includes foreign currency benefit of $1 million
Subscription billings					$2,305 ‑ $2,310		26%
Note: Includes negative impact of foreign currency of $2 million Includes negative impact of billings duration of $7 million
cRPO		27%
Note: Includes negative impact of foreign currency of 150 bps
							Margin (%)
Income from operations							22%
					Amount (millions)
Weighted‑average shares used to compute diluted net income per share					203

 

1. We report non‑GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the section entitled “Statement Regarding Use of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of non‑GAAP measures, and the table entitled “Reconciliation of Non‑GAAP Financial Guidance” for a reconciliation of GAAP to non‑GAAP measures.
2. Guidance for GAAP subscription revenues and non‑GAAP subscription billings is based on September 2021 foreign exchange rates for entities reporting in currencies other than U.S. Dollars.

The following table summarizes our guidance for the full‑year 2021:

	Full‑Year 2021 GAAP Guidance				Full‑Year 2021 Non‑GAAP Guidance(1)
	Amount ($ millions)(2)	Year/Year Growth (%)			Amount ($ millions)(2)		Year/Year Growth (%)
Subscription revenues	$5,565 ‑ $5,570	30%
Note: Includes foreign currency benefit of $91 million
Subscription billings					$6,379 ‑ $6,384		28%
Note: Includes foreign currency benefit of $90 million Includes positive impact of billings duration of $18 million
							Margin (%)
Subscription gross profit							85%
Income from operations							25.0%
Free cash flow							31.5%
					Amount (millions)
Weighted‑average shares used to compute diluted net income per share					202

 

1. We report non‑GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the section entitled “Statement Regarding Use of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of non‑GAAP measures, and the table entitled “Reconciliation of Non‑GAAP Financial Guidance” for a reconciliation of GAAP to non‑GAAP measures.
2. GAAP subscription revenues and non‑GAAP subscription billings for the future quarters included in our full‑year 2021 guidance are based on September 2021 foreign exchange rates for entities reporting in currencies other than U.S. Dollars.

Conference Call Details

The conference call will begin at 2 p.m. Pacific Time (21:00 GMT) on October 27, 2021. Interested parties may listen to the call by dialing (888) 330‑2022 (Passcode: 8135305), or if outside North America, by dialing (646) 960‑0690 (Passcode: 8135305). Individuals may access the live teleconference from this webcast.

https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/597072383

An audio replay of the conference call and webcast will be available two hours after its completion and will be accessible for 30 days. To hear the replay, interested parties may go to the investor relations section of the ServiceNow website or dial (800) 770‑2030 (Passcode: 8135305), or if outside North America, by dialing (647) 362‑9199 (Passcode: 8135305).

Investor Presentation Details

An investor presentation providing additional information, including forward‑looking guidance, and analysis can be found at https://investors.servicenow.com.

Upcoming Investor Conferences

ServiceNow will have executives present at four upcoming investor conferences.

These include:

• Chief Financial Officer Gina Mastantuono will deliver the ESG keynote at the 2021 RBC Capital Markets Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Virtual Conference on Wednesday, November 17 at 9:30 a.m. PT.
• Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott will deliver the keynote at the Credit Suisse 25th Annual Technology Conference on Tuesday, November 30 at 10:15 a.m. PT.
• Chief Financial Officer Gina Mastantuono will present at the UBS Global TMT Conference on Tuesday, December 7 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
• Senior Vice President of IT Workflow Products Pablo Stern will present at the Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Wednesday, December 8 at 10:15 a.m. PT.

The live webcasts will be accessible on the investor relations section of the ServiceNow website at https://investors.servicenow.com and archived on the ServiceNow site for a period of 30 days.

Statement Regarding Use of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures

We report the following non‑GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.

• Adjusted revenues. We present revenues adjusted for constant currency to provide a framework for assessing how our business performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current period results for entities reporting in currencies other than U.S. Dollars (“USD”) are converted into USD at the average exchange rates in effect during the comparison period (for Q3 2020, the average exchange rates in effect for our major currencies were 1 USD to 0.856 Euros and 1 USD to 0.775 British Pound Sterling (“GBP”), rather than the actual average exchange rates in effect during the current period (for Q3 2021, the average exchange rates in effect for our major currencies were 1 USD to 0.847 Euros and 1 USD to 0.724 GBP). We believe the presentation of revenues adjusted for constant currency facilitates the comparison of revenues year‑over‑year.

• Billings and Adjusted billings. We define subscription billings, professional services and other billings, and total billings as the applicable revenue plus the applicable change in deferred revenue, unbilled receivables and customer deposits as presented or derived from the statement of cash flows. We adjust billings for constant currency, as described above, and for constant duration by replacing the portion of multi‑year billings in excess of twelve months during the current period with the portion of multi‑year billings in excess of twelve months during the comparison period. We believe these adjustments facilitate greater comparability in our billings information year‑over‑year. We believe billings is one indicator of the performance of our business.

• Adjusted remaining performance obligations and current remaining performance obligations. We present cRPO and remaining performance obligations (“RPO”) and related growth rates adjusted for constant currency to provide a framework for assessing how our business performed. To present this information, current period results for entities reporting in currencies other than USD are converted into USD at the exchange rates in effect at the end of the comparison period (for Q3 2020, the end of the period exchange rates in effect for our major currencies were 1 USD to 0.852 Euros and 1 USD to 0.777 GBP), rather than the actual end of the period exchange rates in effect during the current period (for Q3 2021, the end of the period exchange rates in effect for our major currencies were 1 USD to 0.862 Euros and 1 USD to 0.745 GBP). We believe the presentation of cRPO and RPO and related growth rates adjusted for constant currency facilitates the comparison of cRPO and RPO year‑over‑year, respectively.

• Gross profit, Income from operations, Net income and Net income per share ‑ diluted. Our non‑GAAP presentation of gross profit, income from operations, and net income measures exclude certain non‑cash or non‑recurring items, including stock‑based compensation expense, amortization of debt discount and issuance costs related to our convertible senior notes, loss on early note conversions, amortization of purchased intangibles, legal settlements, business combination and other related costs, and the related income tax effect of these adjustments. The non‑GAAP weighted‑average shares used to compute our non‑GAAP net income per share ‑ diluted excludes the dilutive effect of the in‑the‑money portion of convertible senior notes as they are covered by our note hedges, and includes the dilutive effect of time‑based stock awards, the dilutive effect of warrants and the potentially dilutive effect of our stock awards with performance conditions not yet satisfied at forecasted attainment levels to the extent we believe it is probable that the performance condition will be met. We believe these adjustments provide useful supplemental information to investors and facilitates the analysis of our operating results and comparison of operating results across reporting periods.

• Free cash flow. Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities plus cash paid for legal settlements, repayments of convertible senior notes attributable to debt discount and business combination and other related costs including compensation expense, reduced by purchases of property and equipment. Free cash flow margin is calculated as free cash flow as a percentage of total revenues. We believe information regarding free cash flow and free cash flow margin provides useful information to investors because it is an indicator of the strength and performance of our business operations.

Our presentation of non‑GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. We encourage investors to carefully consider our results under GAAP, as well as our supplemental non‑GAAP information and the reconciliation between these presentations, to more fully understand our business. Please see the tables included at the end of this release for the reconciliation of GAAP and non‑GAAP results.

Use of Forward‑Looking Statements

This release contains “forward‑looking statements” regarding our performance, including but not limited to statements in the section entitled “Financial Outlook.” Forward‑looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward‑looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements we make.

Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward‑looking statements include: (i) the continued impact and duration of COVID‑19 on our business, future financial performance and global economic conditions including the effectiveness, extent and duration of mitigation efforts such as “shelter in place”, availability of vaccinations and similar directives; (ii) our ability to compete successfully against existing and new competitors, (iii) our ability to comply with evolving privacy laws, data transfer restrictions, and other foreign and domestic standards related to data and the Internet, (iv) our ability to predict, prepare for and respond promptly to rapidly evolving technological, market and customer developments, (v) errors, interruptions, delays, or security breaches in or of our service or data centers, (vi) our ability to grow our business, including converting remaining performance obligations into revenue, adding and retaining customers, selling additional subscriptions to existing customers, selling to larger enterprises, government and regulated organizations with complex sales cycles and certification processes, and entering new geographies and markets, (vii) our ability to develop and gain customer acceptance of new and improved products and services, including those acquired through strategic transactions, and (viii) material changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. Dollar. Additionally, these forward‑looking statements involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions, including those related to the continued impacts of COVID‑19 on our business, future financial performance and global economic conditions. Many of these assumptions relate to matters that are beyond our control and changing rapidly, including, but not limited to, the timeframes for and severity of social distancing and other mitigation requirements, the timing of headwinds from COVID‑19, the continued impact of COVID‑19 on new or existing customers’ purchasing decisions and the length of our sales cycles, renewal timing or billings terms, particularly for customers in certain industries highly affected by COVID‑19. Significant variation from the assumptions underlying our forward‑looking statements could cause our actual results to vary, and the impact could be significant.

Further information on these and other factors that could affect our financial results are included in our Form 10‑K filed for the year ended December 31, 2020, our Form 10‑Q that will be filed for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update these forward‑looking statements, to review or confirm analysts’ expectations, or to provide interim reports or updates on the progress of the current financial quarter.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is making the world of work, work better for people. Our cloud‑based platform and solutions deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity for employees and the enterprise. For more information, visit: www.servicenow.com.

© 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

ServiceNow Q3 2021 complete financial tables (download PDF)

Media Contact:
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650.336.3123
press@servicenow.com

Investor Contact:
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