NOW vs PATH vs PCTY Stock Comparison

ServiceNow, UiPath and Paylocity Holding Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
1 more company in this comparison (MTLS) Create a free account to keep reading and compare up to 10 companies.
NOW ServiceNow, Inc.
$154.83 +14.2% 1M -18.2% 1Y
Market cap
$160.09B
P/E
95.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.73B
Div. yield
–
Business Process Automation Technology
3 wins
PATH UiPath, Inc.
$14.07 +12.8% 1M -19.1% 1Y
Market cap
$6.42B
P/E
20.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.72B
Div. yield
–
Business Process Automation Technology
4 wins
PCTY Paylocity Holding Corp
$170.07 +18.6% 1M +12.3% 1Y
Market cap
$9.06B
P/E
34.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.77B
Div. yield
–
HR Software Technology
3 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

UiPath leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (UiPath 4, ServiceNow 3, Paylocity Holding 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionNOWPATHPCTYLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $160.09B $6.42B $9.06B NOW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 95.6x 20.2x 34.1x PATH
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 40.2x 18.5x 20.6x PATH
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +22.2% +15.0% +11.0% NOW
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 11.3% 21.0% 15.2% PATH
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — 21.0% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.8x — -0.4x PCTY
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -18.2% -19.1% +12.3% PCTY
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +2.4%/yr -22.8%/yr -10.8%/yr NOW
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 58.7% 64.4% 42.2% PCTY
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 52/100 77/100 64/100 PATH

Percentile Scorecard

NOWPATHPCTY

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

AxisNOWPATHPCTY
Valuation 27 #74 of 101 78 #23 of 101 54 #47 of 101
Growth 58 #41 of 97 87 #14 of 97 65 #35 of 97
Profitability 82 #18 of 94 75 #24 of 94 87 #13 of 94
Financial Health 50 #55 of 108 89 #13 of 108 56 #48 of 108
Shareholder Returns 41 #38 of 64 56 #29 of 64 60 #26 of 64
Overall 52 77 64
  • NOW ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications
  • PATH ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications
  • PCTY ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodNOWPATHPCTYSPY
1 month +14.2%+12.8%+18.6% -0.2%
3 months +40.0%+15.5%+22.6% +3.9%
6 months +71.1%+33.2%+66.3% +8.2%
Year to date +1.1%-14.2%+11.5% +12.9%
1 year -18.2%-19.1%+12.3% +12.3%
3 years +39.7%-5.8%-2.5% +87.4%
3 years, per year +11.8%-2.0%-0.8% +23.3%
5 years +12.6%-72.5%-43.6% +67.9%
5 years, per year +2.4%-22.8%-10.8% +10.9%
10 years +811.3%—+295.4% +261.1%
10 years, per year +24.7%—+14.7% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureNOWPATHPCTYSPY
Volatility, 1Y 58.7%64.4%42.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 61.3%65.8%41.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.611.05-0.15 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.31-0.300.29 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -64.5%-83.7%-68.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -18.2%-27.1%-4.3% -1.2%
52-week high $189.26$19.29$177.67 $779.14
52-week low $83.00$9.38$95.10 $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.

MultipleNOWPATHPCTY
P/E now vs peer median 95.6xmedian 28.3x 20.2xmedian 28.3x 34.1xmedian 28.3x
P/S now vs peer median 10.9xmedian 2.8x 3.7xmedian 2.8x 5.1xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 47.7xmedian 17.3x 17.3xmedian 17.3x 17.8xmedian 17.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 35.0xmedian 15.8x 17.7xmedian 15.8x 18.2xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 12.8xmedian 3.2x 3.3xmedian 3.2x 7.4xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 18.40median 0.85 0.33median 0.85 1.33median 0.85

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 monthsNOWPATHPCTY
Revenue $14.73B $1.72B $1.77B
Gross profit $11.02B $1.42B $1.23B
Operating income $1.68B $152.95M $385.99M
Net income $1.67B $361.92M $269.74M
Free cash flow $4.58B $362.96M $497.10M
R&D $3.26B $368.32M $221.39M
EPS (diluted) $1.61 $0.69 $4.92
Cash & equivalents $2.50B $607.41M $271.92M
Total debt $7.52B – $81.25M
Shares (diluted) 1.03B 523.01M 54.77M
Enterprise value $138.55B $958.22M $8.16B

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
MetricNOWPATHPCTY
P/E 95.6x 20.2x 34.1x
P/FCF 35.0x 17.7x 18.2x
P/Operating cash flow 30.2x 17.2x 17.0x
P/S 10.9x 3.7x 5.1x
P/B 12.8x 3.3x 7.4x
P/Tangible book 18.3x 3.5x 8.0x
EV/EBITDA 47.7x 17.3x 17.8x
EV/EBIT 97.0x 33.6x 23.0x
EV/Revenue 11.1x 3.0x 5.0x
EV/FCF 35.6x 14.2x 17.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 30.7x 13.8x 16.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 18.40 0.33 1.33

Growth

14 metrics
MetricNOWPATHPCTY
Revenue growth (1Y) 22.2% 15.0% 11.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 22.5% 14.4% 14.7%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 16.4% 14.6% 11.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 20.5% 13.8% 14.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) 4.9% 430.0% 27.0%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 49.1% 38.3% 35.5%
Net income growth (1Y) 0.5% 1,695% 18.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 5.5% 59.2% 24.2%
EPS growth (1Y) 1.7% 1,763% 22.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 5.2% 61.2% 25.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 13.0% 11.5% 27.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 22.2% 27.9% 23.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 19.0% 17.2% 22.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 25.7% 29.3% 24.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricNOWPATHPCTY
Gross margin 74.8% 82.6% 69.2%
EBITDA margin 23.2% 17.2% 28.1%
Operating margin 11.4% 8.9% 21.8%
Pretax margin 15.9% 12.3% 21.9%
Net margin 11.3% 21.0% 15.2%
FCF margin 31.1% 21.1% 28.1%
Operating cash flow margin 36.0% 21.7% 30.1%
Return on equity 13.8% 18.8% 22.5%
Return on assets 6.0% 12.5% 5.2%
Return on invested capital – – 21.0%
Return on capital employed 10.6% 7.3% 22.1%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.6x 0.3x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 3.2x 1.0x 2.0x
Stock comp / revenue 12.3% 13.6% 7.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricNOWPATHPCTY
Debt / assets 23.7% – 1.7%
Debt / equity 0.6x – 0.1x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.8x – -0.4x
Debt / FCF 1.6x – 0.2x
Liabilities / assets 60.5% 33.0% 75.0%
Equity / assets 39.5% 67.0% 25.0%
Interest coverage – – –
Current ratio 0.7x 2.4x 1.1x
Quick ratio 0.6x 2.1x 0.1x
Cash ratio 0.4x 1.6x 0.1x
Altman Z-score 5.78 4.45 2.52

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricNOWPATHPCTY
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 2.0% 3.9% 4.3%
Shareholder yield 2.0% 3.9% 4.3%
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.

ConsensusNOWPATHPCTY
Forward P/E 40.2xFY2026 18.5xFY2026 20.6xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year $3.85FY2026 $0.76FY2026 $8.25FY2027
EPS growth, next FY +9.7%FY2026 +5.6%FY2026 -0.7%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after +27.0% +14.5% +13.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $15.25BFY2026 $1.87BFY2026 $1.94BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY +14.8%FY2026 +16.3%FY2026 +9.6%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after +17.7% -3.3% -1.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersNOWPATHPCTY
Held by institutions 81.6% 79.0% 85.3%
Institutions holding 2,224 525 466
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.1% +14.3% +2.3%
Institutions buying 1,285 276 273
Institutions selling 779 169 154
Buyers to sellers 1.65 1.63 1.77

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.

NOWPATHPCTY
NOW 1.00 0.64 0.64
PATH 0.64 1.00 0.52
PCTY 0.64 0.52 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, NOW, PATH and PCTY?

ServiceNow (NOW) is the largest by market capitalisation: ServiceNow (NOW) $160.09B, UiPath (PATH) $6.42B, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) $9.06B.

Which stock is cheaper, NOW, PATH and PCTY?

UiPath (PATH) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (ServiceNow (NOW) 95.6x, UiPath (PATH) 20.2x, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) 34.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, UiPath (PATH) is cheapest (ServiceNow (NOW) 40.2x, UiPath (PATH) 18.5x, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) 20.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

ServiceNow (NOW) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: ServiceNow (NOW) +22.2%, UiPath (PATH) +15.0%, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) +11.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

UiPath (PATH) has the highest net margin (ServiceNow (NOW) 11.3%, UiPath (PATH) 21.0%, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) 15.2%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Paylocity Holding (PCTY) returned the most: ServiceNow (NOW) -18.2%, UiPath (PATH) -19.1%, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) +12.3%. Over five years, ServiceNow (NOW) compounded fastest (ServiceNow (NOW) +2.4%/yr, UiPath (PATH) -22.8%/yr, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) -10.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) has been the steadiest (ServiceNow (NOW) 58.7%, UiPath (PATH) 64.4%, Paylocity Holding (PCTY) 42.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, NOW, PATH and PCTY?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, UiPath (PATH) leads on 4. 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.