Armis deal strengthens ServiceNow security business, says Raymond James

ServiceNow (NOW) confirmed its $7.75B acquisition of Armis, to be financed with cash and debt, which is “encouraging” as it was feared that the deal would have a similar cash and equity structure as Moveworks, Raymond James tells investors. The price tag is “a bit higher than initially rumored,” marking the company’s largest acquisition to date and deepening its push into OT and IoT security, the analyst added. The deal strengthens ServiceNow’s $1B-plus security business by adding a best-of-breed exposure management platform and accelerating expansion into industrial and critical-infrastructure environments, while management signaled no need for further large security M&A, the firm adds. Raymond James has an Outperform rating on the shares.