GraniteShares 2x Long NOW Daily ETF (NOWL) Posts +strong performance on ServiceNow Momentum

Key Takeaways

• NOWL advanced roughly 34% over the last 30 days, reflecting a sharp rally in its single underlying exposure, ServiceNow (NOW).
• The fund seeks 200% of the daily return of ServiceNow common stock, reset each trading day; results over longer periods compound and can diverge from a simple 2x multiple.
• ServiceNow's second-quarter results, accelerating AI monetization, and a broad enterprise-software re-rating were the primary catalysts.
• Over the past quarter, NOWL climbed roughly 88%, amplifying ServiceNow's recovery from its 2026 lows.
• As a leveraged single-stock ETF, NOWL is built for short-term trading and carries elevated volatility risk.

NOWL Structure and Single-Stock Exposure

NOWL is an actively managed, leveraged single-stock ETF designed to deliver approximately 2x (200%) of the daily price return of ServiceNow, Inc. common stock, before fees and expenses. Rather than holding a diversified basket, the fund concentrates its exposure in one equity through a small set of instruments — typically ServiceNow shares combined with swap agreements used to achieve the leveraged multiple — resulting in a portfolio of roughly seven positions.

The fund carries a gross expense ratio of 1.51% and manages approximately $190 million in assets under management (AUM). ServiceNow itself is an enterprise-software provider whose Now Platform automates workflows across IT service management, security, human resources, and customer operations. Because NOWL's entire performance hinges on a single company, its ETF performance is effectively a magnified version of ServiceNow's daily stock moves, with no diversification benefit and no downside cushion. I also checked this using Tickeron’s AI Screener to see how the stock compares to others in the industry.

NOWL Price Performance: Last 30 Days Versus the Quarter

Over the last 30 days, NOWL rose from about $5.78 to $7.76, a gain of roughly 34%. The move was not a steady grind higher; it featured a strong two-week surge in late August followed by a choppy consolidation in September, consistent with the amplified daily swings typical of a 2x daily-reset product.

The quarterly trend was even more pronounced. Three months earlier the fund traded near $4.13, meaning NOWL gained approximately 88% over the period. This compounding reflects both the magnitude of ServiceNow's recovery and the mechanical effect of daily leverage resetting during a sustained uptrend. By comparison, ServiceNow shares rose roughly 19% over the last 30 days and about 46% over the quarter — underscoring how daily rebalancing can cause leveraged funds to track roughly, but not exactly, a 2x multiple of the underlying over longer horizons.

Key Drivers of the 30-Day Advance

Because NOWL is a leveraged vehicle on a single stock, the 30-day advance is attributable almost entirely to ServiceNow. The dominant catalyst was a rotation of investor capital from AI infrastructure and semiconductor names into enterprise software, a shift that lifted the broader software complex and rewarded companies demonstrating concrete AI monetization.

ServiceNow's fundamentals reinforced the move. The company's AI business surpassed $1 billion in annual contract value (ACV), with net-new AI ACV accelerating more than 40% sequentially and customers running agentic AI in production rising ninefold over nine months. The company also raised its fiscal 2026 subscription revenue guidance. These figures, along with a series of analyst price-target increases, provided the fundamental support behind the rally. Peer names such as Salesforce (CRM), Workday (WDAY), and Adobe (ADBE) advanced in sympathy, confirming a sector-wide re-rating of enterprise AI platforms.

What Supported Performance Over the Quarter

The three-month trend reflects a broader reversal in the enterprise-software narrative. Enterprise software began 2026 under severe pressure as investors questioned whether AI agents would erode demand for traditional software platforms. ServiceNow and the sector fell sharply before sentiment inverted in late spring, when evidence mounted that AI was becoming a monetizable layer within existing workflow platforms rather than a substitute for them.

ServiceNow's second-quarter earnings, reported in late July, marked the inflection point. Subscription revenue grew 24.5% year over year, current remaining performance obligations (cRPO) rose to roughly $13.2 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) exceeded estimates. Management's confirmation that AI had crossed the $1 billion ACV threshold and its cybersecurity expansion through the Armis and Veza acquisitions reinforced confidence that the platform was capturing a growing share of enterprise IT budgets. For NOWL, the daily-reset mechanism compounded these gains into a much larger total return than the underlying stock's own move.

Outlook and Items to Monitor

The outlook for NOWL remains tightly linked to ServiceNow's fundamentals and the durability of the software sector's re-rating. Key items to monitor include the company's next quarterly earnings, scheduled for late October, and progress toward its year-end target of roughly $1.5 billion in AI ACV. Margins will also be in focus, as the Armis and Veza integrations are expected to weigh on subscription gross margin and free cash flow in the near term.

On the macro side, interest-rate expectations and enterprise IT spending trends will influence sentiment toward high-multiple software equities. Competition from Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), and Salesforce remains a structural consideration, as does the elevated valuation at which ServiceNow trades. Finally, investors should recognize the inherent mechanics of a 2x daily-reset fund: in choppy or range-bound markets, volatility drag can erode returns even when the underlying stock is flat or modestly higher, making NOWL best suited to short-term tactical positioning rather than long-term buy-and-hold strategies.

Using Tickeron’s AI Screener for Sector Analysis

When tracking rotations like the recent shift into enterprise software, I rely on Tickeron’s AI Screener to surface comparable opportunities. The platform scans thousands of stocks and ETFs with technical indicators, fundamentals, volatility metrics, price patterns, and AI-generated signals, letting me filter quickly by sector, momentum, and risk without manually reviewing hundreds of charts. It has helped me identify where capital may be moving next in this space.

Disclaimer

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Contributor

Jimmy Landsman|Expert

My name is Jimmy, and I’m a financial analyst focused on identifying compelling opportunities across the ETF market. Each day, I analyze hundreds of ETFs to uncover potential trading and investment opportunities using a broad range of market factors. For short-term trading, I rely heavily on technical analysis, including price channels, momentum indicators, support and resistance levels, trend patterns, and other market signals. At the same time, I dedicate significant attention to evaluating ETFs from a long-term investment perspective. My objective is to build a well-balanced ETF portfolio that combines core investment holdings with more tactical and speculative positions. The goal is to create a portfolio that can participate effectively in market rallies while also remaining resilient during periods of volatility and market corrections.

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