Workday, Inc. WDAY
Workday's Q2 FY2027 results (revenue $2.649B, up 12.8% YoY; EPS $2.75 beating $2.62 consensus) confirm the operating leverage thesis, with FY2026 operating margin expanding to 10.72% from 4.91% and FCF reaching $2.777B at a 29.07% margin. At 41.6x P/E, WDAY trades at only a ~10% premium to the peer median of 37.9x while offering a 49% P/S discount (5.28x vs 10.4x), making it one of the more reasonably valued large-cap software names.
RSI has cooled to 66.2 from the 75.2 level noted in the prior assessment, and the stock at $204.72 is consolidating rather than in a parabolic breakout, offering a more constructive entry than the overbought conditions that justified the prior hold.
What could go wrong
- Persistent insider selling. Net insider dispositions of $649M over 24 months (403 sales vs 80 acquisitions) signal those closest to the company are not accumulating despite improving fundamentals.
- Technical overextension. Stock at $204.72 trades roughly 30% above its 50-day MA of $157.34 and 27% above its 200-day MA of $160.84, leaving it vulnerable to a mean-reversion pullback.
- Revenue growth deceleration. FY2026 revenue growth of 13.1% is down from 16.35% in FY2025 and 20.96% in FY2023, and Q2 FY2027 total revenue growth of 12.8% shows no reacceleration yet.
- Acquisition premium unwind. The prior run-up was partly driven by Silver Lake acquisition talks; if those negotiations stall or collapse, the takeout premium embedded in the price could unwind rapidly.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: PRNewsWire press release 2026-08-27 · Zacks 2026-08-27 · derived_metrics FY2026 vs FY2025 · fundamentals FY2026 + derived_metrics. Orin's read on WDAY; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-23 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All WDAY filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Capital Management | $1.6B | 0.0% of fund |
| Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management | $1.6B | 4.5% of fund |
| Eagle Capital Management | $1.4B | 4.2% of fund |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $1.4B | 0.1% of fund |
| State Street | $1.2B | 0.0% of fund |
| Invesco | $997.1M | 0.1% of fund |
94 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 526 Form 4 filings, net −$742.9M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 35 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about WDAY
Orin answers questions about WDAY from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 38.9× | — | 53.3× |
| EV/EBITDA | 32.1× | 102.9× | — |
| P/S | 4.96× | 8.23× | — |
| P/B | 7.4× | 8.3× | — |
Its P/E sits 20th percentile of its own last 5 years (−0.49σ from its own mean).
6.4%
free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $2.8B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.
What Wall Street published
$204
$140 – $275 · +6% against today's price
- 41 buy or overweight
- 37 hold
- 3 underweight or sell
The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.
Against the companies it is compared to
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDAYWorkday, Inc. | $50B | 38.9× | 32.1× | 75.8% | 12.3% | 17% |
| ADSKAutodesk, Inc. | $46B | 28.0× | 19.7× | 91.2% | 21.1% | 53% |
| CDNSCadence Design Systems, Inc. | $85B | 61.1× | 39.5× | 88.5% | 23.6% | 23% |
| CRWVCoreWeave, Inc. Class A Common Stock | $47B | — | 36.3× | 67.4% | -25.4% | -45% |
| DDOGDatadog, Inc. | $90B | — | 343.2× | 79.5% | 4.5% | 5% |
| FICOFair Isaac Corporation | $19B | 25.3× | 19.2× | 85.1% | 34.1% | -33% |
| FTNTFortinet, Inc. | $131B | 62.5× | 44.5× | 80.4% | 28.2% | 188% |
| MSIMotorola Solutions, Inc. | $76B | 35.9× | 22.4× | 50.0% | 17.4% | 86% |
The median is of the 5 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 8.4% above it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.
What it has traded at
What its sector has traded at
Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.
Discounted cash flow
| Model | Fair value | Against | Computed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard DCF | $135 | $139.93 · −3% | 2026-06-10 |
| Levered DCF | $177 | $139.93 · +27% | 2026-06-10 |
The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.
Every estimate on one scale
The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.