Is Serve Robotics' Urban Expansion Supporting Long-Term Demand?

Serve Robotics Inc. SERV is expanding its presence across U.S. cities as autonomous sidewalk delivery becomes more common in urban areas. The company’s wider footprint reflects a move beyond limited deployments toward broader neighborhood coverage. The key question is whether this expansion is supporting long-term demand as cities and merchants adopt new last-mile delivery options.

In December 2025, the company announced that it achieved the 2025 goal of deploying more than 2,000 autonomous delivery robots. This milestone made Serve Robotics the operator of the largest sidewalk delivery fleet in the United States. The company stated that the deployment was completed on time, plan and budget, as interest in safe, sustainable and cost-efficient last-mile delivery continues to build across urban markets.

Urban expansion has played a central role in this progress. The company has scaled operations across markets such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago and Alexandria, VA, with additional cities planned for early 2026. In 2025, Serve Robotics also expanded service zones in existing markets and launched operations in 110 high-density neighborhoods nationwide. These areas typically support frequent, short-distance deliveries that align well with sidewalk-based robots.

As coverage widened, delivery activity increased while operating performance remained stable. Reliability stayed near full levels even as usage rose, and average daily operating hours per robot improved, pointing to better utilization as routes matured within neighborhoods.

Overall, the expanding urban footprint suggests growing relevance for autonomous sidewalk delivery. While broader acceptance is still being tested across markets, consistent usage across dense cities will remain the key signal of long-term demand strength.

SERV’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Serve Robotics have gained 6.5% in the past three months against the industry’s 15% decline. In the same time frame, shares of other industry players like Leidos Holdings, Inc. LDOS and BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. BBAI have declined 6.8% and 31.8%, respectively, while Vertiv Holdings Co VRT has gained 42.2%.

SERV’s Stock Three-Month Price Performance

SERV stock is currently trading at a premium. It is currently trading at a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 24.19, well above the industry average of 13.4. Other industry players, such as Vertiv, BigBear.ai and Leidos have P/S ratios of 6.7, 10.3 and 1.26, respectively.

SERV’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Serve Robotics’ 2026 loss per share has widened in the past 60 days. The company is likely to report dismal earnings, with projections indicating a 15% fall in 2026.

EPS Trend of SERV Stock

Conversely, industry players like Vertiv, BigBear.ai and Leidos are likely to witness growth of 39.3%, 72.8% and 5%, respectively, year over year in 2026 earnings.

SERV currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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