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This article originally appeared on Simply Wall St News.

ServiceNow, Inc. ( NYSE:NOW ) announced a strong set of fourth quarter results on Wednesday, beating consensus estimates on the top and bottom line for the fourth consecutive quarter. Despite the share price opening 14% higher, it remains more than 20% below the recent highs.

Fourth quarter results at a glance:

• EPS at $1.46, up 24.7% YoY and 3 cents ahead of consensus estimates

• Revenue at $1.61 bln, up 28.8% YoY and $10 mln ahead of estimates.

• Subscription sales (95% of total revenue) up 30%

• Transactions with net new annual contract value over $1 mln up 52% YoY

• 1,359 customers paying more than $1 mln annually.

ServiceNow is one of the ten largest software companies in the world, but hasn't been in the news much in the last year or so. We decided to have a closer look to see if it may be offering an overlooked opportunity.

Check out our latest analysis for ServiceNow

What's the opportunity in ServiceNow?

When we estimate ServiceNow’s fair value based on analyst forecasts we come to a value of $667, which implies the stock is undervalued by 27.4%. This is just an estimate and is only as good as analyst forecasts, but it’s a good place to start.

At first glance, the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 437x looks ridiculously high. However, as the chart below indicates, cash flows are a lot higher than earnings. At 61x, the price-to-free cash flow ratio is a lot more reasonable - but not exactly cheap.

Can we expect growth from ServiceNow?

Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for ServiceNow. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

While growth prospects look quite good, the company’s net profit margin, at 4%, is a lot lower than its peers. If the margin remains low, comparable software stocks may appear more attractive. On the other hand, the low margin suggests there is more room for improvement which would feed into earnings growth.

What this means for you:

As mentioned, ServiceNow appears to be trading at a modest discount, and while the P/E ratio appears very high, the multiple looks more reasonable when you consider the cash flows. However, it’s worth noting that stock based compensation is high (hence the difference between cash flow and earnings) which may lead to shareholder dilution in the future.