---
title: "Revenue up about 20%, shares down 20–29%: ServiceNow, Fortinet and Intel"
summary: "One-session share moves after September-quarter results at seven US technology companies, 28 to 30 October 2026, against what each reported and guided."
url: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/revenue-up-shares-down-q3-results
format: Trend
desk: "Markets & the AI economy"
region: Global
published: 2026-11-01
facts_checked: 2026-11-01
author: TechBag (The TechBag Journal)
tags: ["ServiceNow","Fortinet","Intel","Tenable","earnings","share price","Nasdaq","cRPO","guidance","renewals"]
cover: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/covers/revenue-up-shares-down-q3-results.png
---

# Revenue up about 20%, shares down 20–29%: ServiceNow, Fortinet and Intel

*One-session share moves after September-quarter results at seven US technology companies, 28 to 30 October 2026, against what each reported and guided.*

Trend · Markets & the AI economy · By TechBag · Published 2026-11-01 · Facts checked 2026-11-01 · Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/revenue-up-shares-down-q3-results

The short version

1. ServiceNow closed 26.95% lower on 29 October, its worst day since it listed in 2012, and Fortinet 20.09% lower. Intel closed 28.58% lower on 30 October, its largest one-day fall in daily data back to 1980. Each had just reported revenue growth of 20–21%.[9][10][1][2][5]
2. The readings analysts gave were about what comes next: ServiceNow guided growth in its next-twelve-months contract book down to 18.5%, Fortinet’s product growth slowed to 37% from 52%, and Intel’s fourth-quarter forecast was below analysts’ expectations, Sharecast reported. Tenable, growing 9.5%, opened 6.1% lower and closed 6.28% higher.[1][2][3][13][9]
3. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.86% on 30 October, its third weekly fall in a row. For a buyer, a vendor’s share price changes the tone of a renewal, not the contract or the vendor’s cash.[9]

ServiceNow, Fortinet and Intel each grew revenue by 20–21% in the quarter to 30 September, and each lost between a fifth and almost three tenths of its market price in the session after reporting.[1][2][5][9] Seven US technology companies reported on 28 and 29 October; six closed lower the next session. This is the week in prices, what each company reported, and what the analysts quoted by name said the market wanted.

## Three sessions, three falls

ServiceNow, Fortinet, Tenable, Microsoft and Alphabet reported on 28 October; Amazon and Intel on 29 October.[1][2][4][5][6][7][8] On Thursday 29 October ServiceNow closed at US$109.67, down 26.95%, and Fortinet at US$139.10, down 20.09%.[9] CNBC called ServiceNow’s fall its “worst day on record”; the previous worst close in the daily data was −17.75%, on 23 April this year.[10][14] On Friday 30 October Intel closed at US$65.76, down 28.58%. The previous largest fall in Intel’s daily data, which starts in March 1980, was −26.06% on 2 August 2024.[9][14]

**Figure: Three companies that grew about 20% each lost a fifth or more in one session; the Nasdaq Composite lost 4.2% over the last two days**

*Closing price indexed to the close of Tuesday 27 October 2026 = 100, sessions from 20 to 30 October 2026*

|  | ServiceNow | Fortinet | Intel | Nasdaq Comp. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 20 Oct | 96.6 | 92.4 | 97.8 | 99.8 |
| 21 Oct | 98.9 | 94.1 | 99.2 | 100.8 |
| 22 Oct | 101.4 | 93.5 | 91.2 | 98.2 |
| 23 Oct | 102.7 | 97.3 | 92.8 | 98 |
| 26 Oct | 102.2 | 99.1 | 96.5 | 98.8 |
| 27 Oct | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 28 Oct | 97 | 94.1 | 101.9 | 100.3 |
| 29 Oct | 70.9 | 75.2 | 98.2 | 98.9 |
| 30 Oct | 67.9 | 73.6 | 70.2 | 96.1 |

Source: Nasdaq.com historical data; TechBag indexing · as of 30 October 2026 · Fortinet and ServiceNow reported on 28 October, Intel on 29 October

ReportedWhy reports of Fortinet's fall run from 20% to 27%

They were taken at different times. Calcalist reported a 25% fall before the market opened.[11] Nasdaq’s data show Fortinet opening at US$127.96 and touching US$127.40, 26.8% below the previous close, then recovering to close 20.09% down.[9] Intel shows the same pattern the other way: Sharecast reported it 25.65% lower before the open; it closed 28.58% lower.[13][9] Every move in this piece is close to close unless we say otherwise.

The wider market fell on the Friday too. The Nasdaq Composite closed 2.86% lower on 30 October, the Nasdaq-100 3.46% and the iShares Semiconductor ETF 8.24%; the software ETF IGV had fallen 3.52% on the Thursday. The Composite ended its third losing week in a row.[9] Intel’s and Amazon’s moves on 30 October include that day’s fall in the market as a whole.

## What each reported, and what the analysts said the market wanted

**ServiceNow** said it beat the high end of its guidance on every top-line and profit measure: revenue rose 20.5% to US$4,106m and adjusted earnings were US$1.00 a share.[1] CNBC reported revenue roughly in line with the US$4.10bn analysts expected (LSEG) and earnings two cents short of a US$1.02 forecast.[10] Contracted revenue for the next twelve months (cRPO) grew 20.5% to US$13.65bn; ServiceNow guided its growth to 18.5% for the December quarter.[1] Citi’s Tyler Radke told CNBC the market “wanted to see something a little bit sooner” from its AI investments, and that “you got to wait until next year to really see that inflection”.[10]

**Fortinet** grew revenue 20% to US$2.08bn and billings 29%, and raised its full-year revenue guidance.[2] Product revenue grew 37% to US$765m, after 52% in the June quarter; service revenue grew about 13%, and Fortinet cut its full-year service guidance to US$5.150–5.170bn from US$5.180–5.220bn.[2][3] Calcalist reported services at US$1.31bn against a US$1.33bn estimate, and quoted Wells Fargo on “the narrower-than-usual gap” between results and expectations: billings beat by about 2%, against 11% in the June quarter.[11] TIKR reported that BofA cut the stock to Neutral from Buy over a “disappointing slowdown”.[12]

**Intel** grew revenue 21% to US$16.5bn, with Data Center and AI up 78% to US$7.3bn; its finance chief said revenue, gross margin and earnings per share “exceeded guidance”. It forecast US$15.0–16.0bn of revenue for the December quarter and adjusted earnings of US$0.25 a share, and David Zinsner said: “we see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year”.[5] Sharecast reported the forecast as “well below analyst expectations of $0.43 and $17.1bn”.[13]

**Tenable** grew 9.5% to US$276.4m, said it exceeded “every one of our guided metrics” and raised its full-year outlook.[4] Its shares opened 6.1% lower on 29 October and closed 6.28% higher.[9] We found no named analyst explaining the turn. Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are in [our piece on cloud growth](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/cloud-growth-azure-aws-google-by-quarter).

**Figure: Tenable, the slowest grower of the seven, was the only one to close higher the session after its results**

*Closing price the session after results, indexed to the last close before them = 100; year-on-year revenue growth in the label; quarter to 30 September 2026*

|  | Last close before results | Close the session after | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Intel, revenue +21% | 100 | 71.4 | -29% |
| ServiceNow, +20.5% | 100 | 73.1 | -27% |
| Fortinet, +20% | 100 | 79.9 | -20% |
| Alphabet, +25% | 100 | 87.4 | -13% |
| Amazon, +12% | 100 | 98.6 | -1% |
| Microsoft, +19% | 100 | 99.8 | 0% |
| Tenable, +9.5% | 100 | 106.3 | 6% |

Source: Company releases (revenue growth); Nasdaq.com historical data (closes) · as of 30 October 2026 · Amazon and Intel measured on 30 October, the others on 29 October. Microsoft fell 0.16%

ReportedWho gave the reasons

None of the companies commented on its share price. Every reason above is an analyst’s or an outlet’s reading, attributed to the outlet that reported it. Growth alone did not sort the moves: Alphabet grew fastest and fell less than the three that grew 20–21%, and Tenable grew slowest and rose.

## What a falling share price changes for a buyer

The share price measures what investors expect next; the release shows the business today. ServiceNow generated US$822m of free cash flow in the quarter and holds US$29.7bn of contracted revenue not yet recognised.[1] Fortinet generated US$865m of free cash flow and added US$1.2bn to its buyback authorisation.[2] Intel generated US$5.1bn of cash from operations.[5] None of that changed on 29 or 30 October.

Our viewOur view: a negotiating fact, not a solvency signal

For these vendors a falling share price does not threaten the contract you hold. It can change the vendor’s behaviour at renewal: more pressure to sign longer, to buy the new AI or platform products the market is watching, or to close before a quarter ends. Answer that with the terms you already wanted: a cap on the uplift, the right to reduce volume, and a price for the new product written down before you commit. The full list is in [our piece on vendors whose shares fell 30%](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/vendor-shares-fell-30-percent-renewal).

**What to watch.** ServiceNow’s 18.5% cRPO guidance, Fortinet’s December-quarter revenue range of US$2.155–2.245bn and Intel’s US$15.0–16.0bn are the numbers the next results will be measured against, from late January.[1][2][5] Whether the market’s fall on 30 October continues is a separate question that no one quoted here answered.

How we did this

Figures as of 1 November 2026

Results are from each company’s own release for the quarter to 30 September 2026, as filed with the SEC; Fortinet’s service growth (US$1,313.4m against US$1,165.6m) is our arithmetic. Prices are Nasdaq.com historical data, checked against Yahoo Finance chart data; a move is the close of the session after results against the last close before them, so Fortinet’s and ServiceNow’s falls on 28 October, before their results, are not in the figures. Worst-day comparisons use Yahoo Finance daily closes from each listing (Intel from March 1980, the start of the data). Analysts’ expectations and reasons are as the named outlets reported them; we did not read the analysts’ own notes. Not used: a reported “about 50%” product-growth expectation for Fortinet that no source we could open supports, and one trade report whose Microsoft and Nasdaq figures contradict Nasdaq’s data.

Spotted an error? Write to us; corrections are published at the foot of the piece.

Sources

1. [ServiceNow, third-quarter 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000137371526000092/erq3fy26.htm) — 28 October 2026
2. [Fortinet, third-quarter 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1262039/000126203926000024/ftntq3-2026ex991.htm) — 28 October 2026
3. [Fortinet, second-quarter 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1262039/000126203926000018/ftntq2-2026ex991.htm) — 29 July 2026
4. [Tenable, third-quarter 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1660280/000166028026000050/q32026financialresults-ear.htm) — 28 October 2026
5. [Intel, third-quarter 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000050863/000005086326000188/q326earningsrelease.htm) — 29 October 2026
6. [Microsoft, FY27 first-quarter results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/000119312526436122/msft-ex99_1.htm) — 28 October 2026
7. [Alphabet, Q3 2026 earnings release](https://s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/files/doc_financials/2026/q3/2026q3-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf) — 28 October 2026
8. [Amazon, Q3 2026 results (8-K, Exhibit 99.1)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000101872426000038/amzn-20260930xex991.htm) — 29 October 2026
9. [Nasdaq, historical prices (close, open, low) for NOW, FTNT, TENB, INTC, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN, the Nasdaq Composite, Nasdaq-100, SOXX and IGV](https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/now/historical) — sessions of 20 to 30 October 2026
10. [CNBC, Samantha Subin: ServiceNow shares plunge 27% to worst day ever after earnings revive AI disruption fears](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/servicenow-now-earnings-q3-2026.html) — 29 October 2026
11. [Calcalist (CTech), Mickey Greenfeld: Fortinet shares plunge 25% despite earnings beat](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bkfn9ygafl) — 29 October 2026
12. [TIKR, David Hanson: Fortinet sinks 20% despite Q3 beat and raise as BofA flags “disappointing slowdown”](https://www.tikr.com/blog/fortinet-sinks-20-despite-q3-beat-and-raise-as-bofa-flags-disappointing-slowdown) — 29 October 2026
13. [Sharecast News (via Hargreaves Lansdown), Iain Gilbert: Intel shares slump on weak Q4 guidance, ongoing PC slowdown](https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/stock-market-news/company--news/intel-shares-slump-on-weak-q4-guidance,-ongoing-pc-slowdown) — 30 October 2026
14. [Yahoo Finance, daily price history for INTC (from 17 March 1980), NOW (from 29 June 2012) and FTNT (from 18 November 2009)](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/INTC/history/) — daily closes from each listing to 23 October 2026

Related on TechBag: the [ServiceNow hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/servicenow), the [Fortinet hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/fortinet) and the [Tenable hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/tenable).

**Disclosure.** TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

Go deeper on TechBag

- [The ServiceNow hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/servicenow) — ServiceNow products TechBag covers, with dated claims
- [The Fortinet hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/fortinet) — FortiGate and the rest of the portfolio whose product growth slowed
- [33 of 56 listed vendors fell 30% or more](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/vendor-shares-fell-30-percent-renewal) — what changes at renewal when a vendor’s shares fall, and what does not