ADP vs NOW vs GPN Stock Comparison

Automatic Data Processing, ServiceNow and Global Payments Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NOW ServiceNow, Inc.
$158.19 +16.6% 1M -15.0% 1Y
Market cap
$159.67B
P/E
95.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.73B
Div. yield
–
Business Process Automation Technology
2 wins
GPN Global Payments Inc
$81.87 -5.4% 1M -6.3% 1Y
Market cap
$21.98B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$10.23B
Div. yield
0.01%
Payment Processing Technology
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Automatic Data Processing leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Automatic Data Processing 6, Global Payments 3, ServiceNow 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionADPNOWGPNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $117.83B $159.67B $21.98B NOW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.7x 95.6x -23.5x ADP
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 23.4x 41.1x 6.4x GPN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.7% +22.2% +32.5% GPN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 20.1% 11.3% -9.1% ADP
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital -46.5% — 2.3% GPN
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.2x 0.8x 4.8x ADP
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +7.2% -15.0% -6.3% ADP
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +6.3%/yr +3.5%/yr -10.7%/yr ADP
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 28.4% 58.8% 40.6% ADP
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 40/100 52/100 50/100 NOW

Percentile Scorecard

ADPNOWGPN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisADPNOWGPN
Valuation 36 #66 of 102 28 #74 of 102 75 #26 of 99
Growth 27 #72 of 98 58 #42 of 98 26 #70 of 94
Profitability 54 #44 of 95 82 #18 of 95 64 #33 of 90
Financial Health 36 #70 of 109 50 #55 of 109 23 #81 of 105
Shareholder Returns 48 #34 of 64 41 #38 of 64 62 #24 of 61
Overall 40 52 50
  • ADP ranked among 115 companies in Business Applications
  • NOW ranked among 115 companies in Business Applications
  • GPN ranked among 109 companies in Fintech

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodADPNOWGPNSPY
1 month +14.2%+16.6%-5.4% -0.8%
3 months +18.1%+49.9%-2.6% +3.5%
6 months +52.7%+74.9%+19.8% +7.0%
Year to date +17.1%+3.3%+5.8% +12.2%
1 year +7.2%-15.0%-6.3% +13.0%
3 years +40.2%+42.8%-20.3% +86.3%
3 years, per year +11.9%+12.6%-7.3% +23.1%
5 years +35.7%+19.0%-43.2% +68.6%
5 years, per year +6.3%+3.5%-10.7% +11.0%
10 years +245.4%+902.5%+11.1% +258.0%
10 years, per year +13.2%+25.9%+1.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureADPNOWGPNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 28.4%58.8%40.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 27.0%61.5%37.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.080.621.02 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.25-0.25-0.15 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -42.2%-64.5%-58.8% -25.4%
From 52-week high -2.2%-16.4%-13.7% -1.8%
52-week high $307.94$189.26$94.85 $779.14
52-week low $188.79$83.00$62.47 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleADPNOWGPN
P/E now vs peer median 27.4xmedian 28.8x 97.7xmedian 28.8x -23.7xmedian 20.6x
P/S now vs peer median 5.5xmedian 2.8x 11.1xmedian 2.8x 2.1xmedian 2.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -25.9xmedian 17.7x 48.7xmedian 17.7x 10.6xmedian 15.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 22.8xmedian 15.8x 35.7xmedian 15.8x 26.5xmedian 16.4x
P/B now vs peer median 19.9xmedian 3.2x 13.1xmedian 3.2x 0.9xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median 2.73median 0.85 18.80median 0.85 0.51median 1.05

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsADPNOWGPN
Revenue $21.95B $14.73B $10.23B
Gross profit $10.19B $11.02B $6.54B
Operating income -$6.44B $1.68B $1.27B
Net income $4.41B $1.67B -$873.78M
Free cash flow $5.24B $4.58B $822.72M
R&D $1.03B $3.26B –
EPS (diluted) $10.94 $1.61 $-3.46
Cash & equivalents $4.23B $2.50B $5.41B
Total debt $4.96B $7.52B $23.56B
Shares (diluted) 403.30M 1.03B 270.12M
Enterprise value $99.96B $138.13B -$227.11M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricADPNOWGPN
P/E 27.4x 97.7x -23.7x
P/FCF 22.8x 35.7x 26.5x
P/Operating cash flow 22.0x 30.8x 13.1x
P/S 5.5x 11.1x 2.1x
P/B 19.9x 13.1x 0.9x
P/Tangible book 27.4x 18.7x 5.0x
EV/EBITDA -25.9x 48.7x 10.6x
EV/EBIT -18.7x 99.1x 31.5x
EV/Revenue 5.5x 11.3x 3.9x
EV/FCF 23.0x 36.3x 48.5x
EV/Operating cash flow 22.1x 31.4x 24.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.73 18.80 0.51

Growth

14 metrics
MetricADPNOWGPN
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.7% 22.2% 32.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 6.8% 22.5% 3.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 7.6% 16.4% 14.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 8.1% 20.5% 5.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) -4.9% 4.9% -33.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -4.2% 49.1% -4.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 8.2% 0.5% -158.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.0% 5.5% -44.6%
EPS growth (1Y) 9.6% 1.7% -158.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 10.1% 5.2% -46.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 10.2% 13.0% -46.4%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 8.9% 22.2% -9.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 9.9% 19.0% -66.6%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.4% 25.7% -19.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricADPNOWGPN
Gross margin 46.4% 74.8% 63.9%
EBITDA margin -21.2% 23.2% 36.8%
Operating margin -29.3% 11.4% 12.4%
Pretax margin 26.1% 15.9% 5.5%
Net margin 20.1% 11.3% -9.1%
FCF margin 23.9% 31.1% 8.0%
Operating cash flow margin 24.8% 36.0% 16.2%
Return on equity 71.3% 13.8% -3.5%
Return on assets 6.9% 6.0% -1.3%
Return on invested capital -46.5% – 2.3%
Return on capital employed -46.6% 10.6% 2.5%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.5x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 3.2x -1.9x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 12.3% 1.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricADPNOWGPN
Debt / assets 7.9% 23.7% 37.1%
Debt / equity 0.8x 0.6x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.2x 0.8x 4.8x
Debt / FCF 0.9x 1.6x 28.6x
Liabilities / assets 90.5% 60.5% 62.6%
Equity / assets 9.5% 39.5% 37.4%
Interest coverage -14.0x – 1.5x
Current ratio 1.1x 0.7x 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.2x 0.6x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.4x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 1.91 5.89 0.60

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricADPNOWGPN
Dividend yield 2.3% – 1.2%
Net buyback yield 1.7% 1.9% 7.2%
Shareholder yield 4.0% 1.9% 8.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – -28.8%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 30.6%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 1.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – -1.7%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusADPNOWGPN
Forward P/E 23.4xFY2027 41.1xFY2026 6.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $12.87FY2027 $3.85FY2026 $12.82FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.7%FY2027 +9.7%FY2026 +4.9%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +6.8% +27.0% +18.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $22.14BFY2027 $15.25BFY2026 $12.66BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +0.9%FY2027 +14.8%FY2026 +35.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +18.1% +17.7% +8.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersADPNOWGPN
Held by institutions 88.1% 81.6% 100.0%
Institutions holding 2,290 2,224 792
Change in shares held, QoQ +4.4% -2.1% +7.4%
Institutions buying 1,084 1,285 374
Institutions selling 874 779 307
Buyers to sellers 1.24 1.65 1.22

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ADPNOWGPN
ADP 1.00 0.56 0.51
NOW 0.56 1.00 0.34
GPN 0.51 0.34 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ADP, NOW and GPN?

ServiceNow (NOW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Automatic Data Processing (ADP) $117.83B, ServiceNow (NOW) $159.67B, Global Payments (GPN) $21.98B.

Which stock is cheaper, ADP, NOW and GPN?

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 26.7x, ServiceNow (NOW) 95.6x, Global Payments (GPN) -23.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Global Payments (GPN) is cheapest (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 23.4x, ServiceNow (NOW) 41.1x, Global Payments (GPN) 6.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Global Payments (GPN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Automatic Data Processing (ADP) +6.7%, ServiceNow (NOW) +22.2%, Global Payments (GPN) +32.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) has the highest net margin (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 20.1%, ServiceNow (NOW) 11.3%, Global Payments (GPN) -9.1%). On return on invested capital, Global Payments (GPN) leads (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) -46.5%, Global Payments (GPN) 2.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Automatic Data Processing (ADP) returned the most: Automatic Data Processing (ADP) +7.2%, ServiceNow (NOW) -15.0%, Global Payments (GPN) -6.3%. Over five years, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) compounded fastest (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) +6.3%/yr, ServiceNow (NOW) +3.5%/yr, Global Payments (GPN) -10.7%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 0.00%, ServiceNow (NOW) 0.00%, Global Payments (GPN) 0.01%. Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and ServiceNow (NOW) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) has been the steadiest (Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 28.4%, ServiceNow (NOW) 58.8%, Global Payments (GPN) 40.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ADP, NOW and GPN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.