The more surprising point is not that, but rather the fact that during the pandemic this valuation had climbed to as much as 80x EBITDA. And that a year ago it was still flirting with a peak of 60x.

Such multiples are dizzying. Were they unjustified? Not necessarily, since ServiceNow has been one of the most spectacular success stories on the US market over the past decade, with revenue multiplied tenfold over the period, and operating profit rising from zero to almost $3bn.

For investors, the perennial lesson is that they should always time their entry carefully, paying particularly close attention to the valuation multiple they are paying to buy their shares.

Indeed, despite its exceptional economic performance, ServiceNow has clearly underperformed the S&P 500 in almost every quarter over the past 5 years. An investor who bought at the start of that period could have correctly anticipated the group's growth performance and still lose money.

The big question right now is whether the software publisher run by the renowned William McDermott - former CEO of SAP, whose market cap he tripled during his tenure - will be a beneficiary or a victim of artificial intelligence.

McDermott is, of course, leaning towards the former. In fact, he said in his latest conference call that his group's pipeline had never been so well stocked. Earlier this week, he also announced open-market purchases of shares worth around three million dollars; one would like to see members of his management team do the same.

Guidance for next year remains very optimistic, much in line with previous outlooks, while ServiceNow is promising to step up share buybacks - in theory a sensible choice if the stock really is undervalued, which it may be given a valuation of under 18x expected 2026 EBITDA.

In practice, things are somewhat different, because here as elsewhere in the US tech sector, the thorny issue remains utterly outlandish stock-option pay. In that respect, so far, ServiceNow's share buybacks have served only to temper the dilution caused by the issuance of shares generously distributed to management.

In 2024, stock-option compensation thus reached $1.75bn, and share buybacks $1.4bn. In 2025, stock options came to $2bn, and share buybacks $2.6bn, with the number of shares outstanding continuing to rise sharply in both years.