New York, June 1, 2026, 11:03 EDT
- ServiceNow jumped 8.5% in morning trade as software stocks kept bouncing from recent lows.
- Investors picked up software stocks after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed worries that AI agents will overtake software companies.
- Salesforce, IBM and Adobe all moved higher, suggesting the move was part of a wider rotation, not just tied to ServiceNow.
ServiceNow shares surged Monday in New York, pacing gains in enterprise software as investors bought back into firms viewed as likely AI winners rather than those at risk from the technology.
The stock traded at $134.95, up $10.58, or 8.5%. Shares reached as high as $139.10 earlier. More than 35 million shares changed hands so far, an active morning.
The shift is key, as investors had been cutting software stocks most of this year on fears that AI agents would cut demand for old-line software tools. But Monday, the tape suggested a change. Traders bet that firms like ServiceNow will still be needed to handle, secure, and review how AI agents operate across big companies.
Agentic AI — that is, systems able to finish tasks with little human help — turned into the word of the day. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at Computex that the idea software firms will be wiped out is “exactly the opposite.” Huang said, “it was an incredible time” for software makers if their tools can work with agents. Business Insider
Software names got a bid. Salesforce jumped 9.5%. IBM tacked on 8.9%. Adobe was up 4.3%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF climbed 3.6% with the group.
ServiceNow is pitching itself as a control layer for AI in the enterprise. The company said in April that first-quarter subscription revenue came in at $3.67 billion, up 22% from a year ago. ServiceNow also said customers spending over $1 million annually on Now Assist jumped more than 130%. Annual contract value refers to the yearly value of each customer deal.
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said at the time that the company’s “AI growth is far exceeding even our own expectations.” Remaining performance obligations, which tracks contracted revenue due within a year, climbed 22.5% to $12.64 billion. ServiceNow Investor Relations
Bank of America put ServiceNow back on its buy list last month, with Tal Liani and his team setting a $130 price target. They said, “AI increases the need for governance,” and argued ServiceNow sits near the middle of workflow control. Sherwood News
ServiceNow shares jumped 14.4% on Friday to $124.37, making it three days in a row of gains. But the stock is still off nearly 19% for the year after dropping 42% earlier in 2026, Inc. said, citing market data. The move has already outpaced that call.
The rally is still based on a bet that hasn’t been proved. If AI agents cut back the need for seat-based software more quickly than they lift demand for governance and workflow tools, revenue gains could fall short of what investors expect. ServiceNow has flagged competition, customer uptake of AI, macro factors and foreign exchange as risks to outcomes.
Stocks got a lift from the wider market mood. Wall Street indexes hovered close to records, Reuters said, as Nvidia’s move into AI balanced worries about oil and geopolitical tensions. Traders were also waiting for this week’s U.S. jobs data and Broadcom earnings.
ServiceNow isn’t acting like a usual defensive subscription software stock right now. Instead, it’s trading more as an AI operating layer bet for big firms. That’s a quick change. Now the question is if buyers keep signing contracts on that pitch.
