Rich Peter
Investor, Crypto, US Stocks & High-Dividend ETFs
Workday looks undervalued, with multiple valuation models putting intrinsic value near $165, a 15-16% discount, despite fears that AI will disrupt SaaS and weak enterprise software guidance from IBM. Its AI agents run at enterprise scale for over 4,000 clients, its 12-month subscription backlog grew more than 15%, and non-GAAP operating margin widened to 31.8% as management raised full-year profit guidance. x.comÂ
ServiceNow's unexpected expense surge makes its rich valuation more vulnerable in a struggling software sector. Revenue rose 21%, but spending drove an EPS miss and one quarter of guided cRPO deceleration; wider market conditions could hurt near term. The 20% selloff looks excessive, and few software companies should benefit as much from AI. Management could deliver over 3-5 years, though the stock is only close to a buy again now; below $100 looks good for the long term. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
AI is forcing a repricing of the enterprise software business model, and for ServiceNow and SAP the reset is not finished. Claude Managed Agents eased production AI deployment, ServiceNow's AI bundling raised monetization questions, and SAP warned of short-term pain like its cloud-migration margin squeeze. Multiples compress before new economics are understood, and most software still trades at a premium on GAAP P/E and EV/FCF ex-stock comp. Workday at 1.7x revenue hints at a floor. x.comÂ
Workday's Q2 was totally fine, and the business is steadier than the bearish narrative implied. Growth relies on upselling a mature HCM and finance base, giving about 10-12% revenue growth, while margins have plenty of room to rise from 14% GAAP. AI is only 6% of revenue, so the business is unlikely to change much. The real risk is big companies shifting spending to hotter AI tools such as Claude. A sale anywhere below $250 would be insulting to shareholders, and 20x earnings power is not crazy. … Show more
Workday at 3x sales is a travesty for a business of its quality, implying the market expects management to destroy value through poor capital allocation on top of AI fears. It could likely raise margins toward 30% without much customer impact, given bloat and complacency; the same factors that make it easy to catch up also make it easy to run more profitably. Venture valuations like Rippling's make more sense with Workday at 6-8x sales. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Software stocks such as UiPath, HubSpot and ServiceNow are not about to be wiped out by AI, and a reported Silver Lake bid for Workday challenges that view. A seasoned tech investor willing to pay a huge sum, reportedly $50 billion, for a classic SaaS company fits poorly with the early-2026 thesis that AI would soon devalue enterprise software. The winners should become a control and automation layer linking AI agents, company data and workflows. The rally was partly short covering. x.comÂ
Software companies face a multi-year repricing because AI has removed the scarcity that made software valuable. For 20 years building software required engineers, letting SaaS firms charge monthly fees forever; when anyone can build a working product in a weekend with Claude, software stops being the moat. Atlassian is down 75%, HubSpot 69% and Figma 86%, and layoffs show headcount no longer scales with output. Survivors will be those with distribution, data and trust underneath. x.comÂ
Workday has 61% upside, according to a bot's model. x.comÂ
Software is nowhere near a floor because AI has broken the assumption behind the sector's premium: very long-duration, highly recurring revenue. Competition is intensifying, new products such as Anthropic's suite far outperform incumbents like Microsoft Copilot, and AI natives move faster without legacy constraints. Accounting flatters results, with Snowflake's SBC above its CY25 free cash flow. Even at 30x GAAP earnings most names have downside, versus Alphabet at 23x and Nvidia at 14x. x.com … Show more
Salesforce and Workday have another 25% downside, with Adobe already trading at 7x. That holds even against @dalibali2's point that both sit near single-digit free-cash-flow multiples and can keep growing free cash flow by double digits for a long time. x.comÂ
Software stocks probably have a floor as results challenge fears that AI agents will displace them. Since the June 22 momentum unwind, IGV is up 25% and the SOX index down 22%. Atlassian and Salesforce jumped on solid results, plus an Anthropic deal for Salesforce, and possible Silver Lake interest lifted Workday. A new bullish twist says agents will use software tools 10-100x more than humans. Whether fundamentals back the rally is still open; a likely Fed hike and weak September are risks. … Show more
