DDOG vs CSCO vs NOW Stock Comparison

Datadog, Cisco Systems and ServiceNow Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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DDOG Datadog, Inc.
$278.41 +3.6% 1M +77.0% 1Y
Market cap
$94.16B
P/E
530.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.97B
Div. yield
–
IT Operations Software Technology
3 wins
CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc.
$110.29 +3.3% 1M +51.9% 1Y
Market cap
$428.90B
P/E
32.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$63.33B
Div. yield
–
Networking Equipment Technology
8 wins
NOW ServiceNow, Inc.
$149.85 +14.0% 1M -20.1% 1Y
Market cap
$113.78B
P/E
78.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$15.43B
Div. yield
–
Business Process Automation Technology

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Cisco Systems leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Cisco Systems 8, Datadog 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionDDOGCSCONOWLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $94.16B $428.90B $113.78B CSCO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 530.2x 32.3x 78.7x CSCO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 102.4x 23.3x 38.9x CSCO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +31.5% +11.8% +21.8% DDOG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 4.5% 21.0% 9.4% CSCO
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 15.9% 5.2% CSCO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 0.8x 0.8x CSCO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +77.0% +51.9% -20.1% DDOG
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +10.8%/yr +14.5%/yr +1.4%/yr CSCO
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 69.0% 35.5% 58.8% CSCO
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 66/100 55/100 51/100 DDOG

Percentile Scorecard

DDOGCSCONOW

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

AxisDDOGCSCONOW
Valuation 33 #84 of 124 33 #75 of 111 33 #68 of 101
Growth 89 #13 of 113 40 #65 of 108 50 #49 of 97
Profitability 77 #26 of 109 88 #13 of 104 80 #20 of 94
Financial Health 76 #31 of 127 31 #80 of 115 53 #51 of 108
Shareholder Returns 55 #29 of 63 82 #15 of 78 38 #40 of 64
Overall 66 55 51
  • DDOG ranked among 137 companies in Infrastructure Software
  • CSCO ranked among 121 companies in Computer Hardware
  • NOW ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodDDOGCSCONOWSPY
1 month +3.6%+3.3%+14.0% +0.9%
3 months +5.4%-1.9%+29.4% +5.9%
6 months +107.8%+23.1%+68.6% +8.5%
Year to date +104.7%+43.2%-2.2% +13.3%
1 year +77.0%+51.9%-20.1% +12.4%
3 years +240.9%+113.9%+35.2% +88.1%
3 years, per year +50.5%+28.9%+10.6% +23.5%
5 years +66.7%+97.1%+7.4% +68.2%
5 years, per year +10.8%+14.5%+1.4% +11.0%
10 years —+260.5%+770.2% +263.4%
10 years, per year —+13.7%+24.2% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureDDOGCSCONOWSPY
Volatility, 1Y 69.0%35.5%58.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 59.7%37.1%61.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.281.100.60 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.121.46-0.34 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -68.1%-38.6%-64.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.1%-15.2%-20.1% -0.9%
52-week high $293.26$130.00$187.58 $779.14
52-week low $102.61$71.04$83.00 $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.

MultipleDDOGCSCONOW
P/E now vs peer median 558.5xmedian 37.9x 32.9xmedian 33.5x 107.3xmedian 27.6x
P/S now vs peer median 25.2xmedian 4.4x 6.9xmedian 2.8x 10.1xmedian 2.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 579.5xmedian 34.5x 25.1xmedian 19.6x 46.0xmedian 17.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 84.5xmedian 26.6x 34.1xmedian 29.8x 32.7xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 22.9xmedian 3.4x 8.7xmedian 2.9x 11.9xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 9.83median 1.24 12.20median 1.10 -31.41median 0.84

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 monthsDDOGCSCONOW
Revenue $3.97B $63.33B $15.43B
Gross profit $3.15B $40.86B $11.28B
Operating income $16.33M $15.37B $1.49B
Net income $177.58M $13.27B $1.45B
Free cash flow $1.18B $12.77B $4.75B
R&D $1.73B $9.56B $3.47B
EPS (diluted) $0.48 $3.33 $1.39
Cash & equivalents $434.96M $7.22B $2.39B
Total debt – $29.53B $7.52B
Shares (diluted) 371.02M 3.99B 1.04B
Enterprise value $75.80B $364.83B $93.04B

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
MetricDDOGCSCONOW
P/E 558.5x 32.9x 107.3x
P/FCF 84.5x 34.1x 32.7x
P/Operating cash flow 81.3x 30.7x 29.2x
P/S 25.2x 6.9x 10.1x
P/B 22.9x 8.7x 11.9x
P/Tangible book 23.0x 10.2x 16.4x
EV/EBITDA 579.5x 25.1x 46.0x
EV/EBIT 5,815x 29.2x 106.1x
EV/Revenue 23.9x 7.1x 10.3x
EV/FCF 80.3x 35.2x 33.4x
EV/Operating cash flow 77.3x 31.7x 29.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 9.83 12.20 -31.41

Growth

14 metrics
MetricDDOGCSCONOW
Revenue growth (1Y) 31.5% 11.8% 21.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 27.9% 3.6% 22.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 30.8% 11.1% 14.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 28.0% 4.6% 19.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 189.5% 30.7% -14.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 28.7% 0.7% 32.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 42.5% 30.3% -16.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 60.5% 1.7% -3.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 37.8% 30.7% -16.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 56.8% 2.7% -3.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 27.3% -0.1% 10.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 36.3% -10.7% 21.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 27.7% -3.9% 20.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 37.6% -12.5% 25.9%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricDDOGCSCONOW
Gross margin 79.5% 64.5% 73.1%
EBITDA margin 4.1% 28.3% 22.3%
Operating margin 0.4% 24.3% 9.7%
Pretax margin 5.0% 25.3% 13.1%
Net margin 4.5% 21.0% 9.4%
FCF margin 29.8% 20.2% 30.8%
Operating cash flow margin 31.0% 22.4% 34.6%
Return on equity 4.2% 26.8% 11.3%
Return on assets 2.4% 10.4% 4.6%
Return on invested capital – 15.9% 5.2%
Return on capital employed 0.3% 17.9% 7.5%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.5x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 6.9x 1.1x 3.7x
Stock comp / revenue 20.7% 6.0% 10.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricDDOGCSCONOW
Debt / assets – 22.8% 23.6%
Debt / equity – 0.6x 0.6x
Net debt / EBITDA – 0.8x 0.8x
Debt / FCF – 2.3x 1.6x
Liabilities / assets 42.1% 61.2% 58.9%
Equity / assets 57.9% 38.8% 41.1%
Interest coverage 1.4x 10.5x 14.6x
Current ratio 3.2x 0.9x 0.7x
Quick ratio 3.2x 0.6x 0.6x
Cash ratio 2.7x 0.4x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 20.09 4.16 5.77

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricDDOGCSCONOW
Dividend yield – 1.5% –
Net buyback yield -0.1% 1.3% 1.7%
Shareholder yield -0.1% 2.8% 1.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

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.

ConsensusDDOGCSCONOW
Forward P/E 102.4xFY2026 23.3xFY2027 38.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.72FY2026 $4.74FY2027 $3.85FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +32.7%FY2026 +9.5%FY2027 +9.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +1.8% +20.7% +27.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $4.18BFY2026 $74.93BFY2027 $15.25BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +21.7%FY2026 +18.3%FY2027 +14.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +24.9% +0.6% +17.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersDDOGCSCONOW
Held by institutions 90.4% 80.1% 81.6%
Institutions holding 1,265 4,046 2,224
Change in shares held, QoQ +6.1% +5.0% -2.1%
Institutions buying 738 1,847 1,285
Institutions selling 432 1,817 779
Buyers to sellers 1.71 1.02 1.65

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.

DDOGCSCONOW
DDOG 1.00 0.11 0.43
CSCO 0.11 1.00 0.01
NOW 0.43 0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, DDOG, CSCO and NOW?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Datadog (DDOG) $94.16B, Cisco Systems (CSCO) $428.90B, ServiceNow (NOW) $113.78B.

Which stock is cheaper, DDOG, CSCO and NOW?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Datadog (DDOG) 530.2x, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 32.3x, ServiceNow (NOW) 78.7x). On next year's consensus earnings, Cisco Systems (CSCO) is cheapest (Datadog (DDOG) 102.4x, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 23.3x, ServiceNow (NOW) 38.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Datadog (DDOG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Datadog (DDOG) +31.5%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +11.8%, ServiceNow (NOW) +21.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) has the highest net margin (Datadog (DDOG) 4.5%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 21.0%, ServiceNow (NOW) 9.4%). On return on invested capital, Cisco Systems (CSCO) leads (Cisco Systems (CSCO) 15.9%, ServiceNow (NOW) 5.2%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Datadog (DDOG) returned the most: Datadog (DDOG) +77.0%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +51.9%, ServiceNow (NOW) -20.1%. Over five years, Cisco Systems (CSCO) compounded fastest (Datadog (DDOG) +10.8%/yr, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +14.5%/yr, ServiceNow (NOW) +1.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Cisco Systems (CSCO) has been the steadiest (Datadog (DDOG) 69.0%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 35.5%, ServiceNow (NOW) 58.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, DDOG, CSCO and NOW?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Cisco Systems (CSCO) leads on 8. 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.