SAP’s Cloud & AI MomentumSAP’s Cloud and AI Momentum: Why This Tech Giant Remains a Top Buy in 2024
SAP is a Germany based company specializing in enterprise application software
It operates through three key segments:
1.Applications, Technology & Services: This segment focuses on selling software licenses, subscriptions to SAP’s cloud applications, and related services. It encompasses support services, various professional services, implementation services for SAP’s software products, and educational services to help customers effectively use SAP solutions
2.SAP Business Network:This segment includes SAP’s cloud-based collaborative business networks and related services. It covers cloud applications and professional and educational services related to the SAP Business Network. This segment also encompasses cloud offerings developed by SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, and Concur, which facilitate supplier collaboration, workforce management, and expense management.
3.Customer Experience:This segment offers both on-premise and cloud-based products designed to manage front-office functions, focusing on customer experience management. It provides solutions that help businesses enhance and streamline interactions with customers.
These segments enable SAP to offer a wide range of solutions, addressing enterprise needs from back-office functions to collaborative networks and customer-facing operations.
SAP remains a top pick, with clear growth momentum that could accelerate further and potential for margin improvements. My buy rating remains unchanged.
SAP reported its Q3 2024 earnings, showing a 10% year-over-year revenue increase in constant currency (CC) to €8.5 billion, maintaining the same growth momentum as Q2 2024. The highlight is the cloud segment’s revenue growth, reaching €4.35 billion, with a y/y CC growth rate accelerating from 25% in Q2 2024 to 27% in Q3 2024. This aligns well with my expectations, as the current cloud backlog (CCB) grew by 29% y/y CC, improving 100 basis points from Q2 2024. By product category, the Cloud ERP Suite showed 36% y/y CC growth, a 300bps sequential improvement. License revenue, though still declining, saw a slower drop from -27% in Q2 to -14% in Q3, and maintenance revenue declines also eased from -3% to -2%. This solid revenue performance contributed to a strong profit outcome, with adjusted EBIT beating estimates by approximately 9% at €2.24 billion, and a major free cash flow (FCF) beat of €1.25 billion, far surpassing the consensus of -€676 million.
Given this strong performance, it wasn’t surprising that management raised guidance, which is certainly encouraging. They now forecast adjusted EBIT in the range of €7.8 to €8 billion, a €150 million increase at the midpoint, implying y/y growth of 20% to 23% CC, up from the previous 17% to 21%. Cloud and software revenue guidance also increased by €400 million at the midpoint, with a new range of €29.5 to €29.8 billion, reflecting 10% to 11% y/y CC growth versus the previous 8% to 10%. Additionally, adjusted FCF is now projected between €3.5 to €4 billion, compared to the prior €3.5 billion.
I am confident that SAP can meet these targets for several reasons. First, the S/4HANA migration remains strong, as indicated by 29% y/y CC CCB growth and 36% y/y CC growth in the Cloud ERP Suite, which accounts for approximately 84% of total cloud revenue. Second, nearly one-third of deals signed in the quarter involved AI, highlighting increased demand for embedded AI solutions. This reinforces my previous view that AI adoption is driving SAP’s cloud migration efforts, as customers must utilize the cloud to fully leverage these AI capabilities. Notably, SAP is moving to the “expand” phase of its strategy by adding generative AI (GenAI) capabilities.
With SAP introducing more AI features, the company is well-positioned to continue capitalizing on this growth driver. For example, its AI-based assistant, Joule, now offers collaborative agent capabilities, allowing it to manage multiple AI agents for complex tasks—resulting in significant productivity gains. Additionally, the Knowledge Graph, a part of SAP’s GenAI suite, connects language and data to help users navigate SAP systems more efficiently. SAP has over 100 GenAI use cases and has added more than 500 skills to Joule so far, suggesting substantial growth potential.
AI adoption remains robust, as evidenced by AI’s central role in SAP’s sales strategy. Around 20% of deals now include premium AI features, and all ERP and LoB deals involve discussions around AI, signaling that AI is a key growth driver for SAP, especially considering that AI integration was minimal a few years ago.
I reaffirm my model assumptions and see continued attractive upside potential, even after SAP’s strong year-to-date share price rally. SAP is increasingly likely to achieve 10% growth for FY24, with further acceleration expected in FY25/26, driven by strong cloud migration and rising AI demand. Management’s upward revision of FY24 adjusted EBIT indicates that earnings margins will improve. Year-to-date, the adjusted earnings margin stands at around 21.1%, making my full-year target of 21.5% feasible. As growth accelerates and SAP completes its restructuring (which impacts 9,000 to 10,000 positions as announced in January 2024), margins should rise to the mid-20% range. I’ve added 300 basis points based on trends from FY22 to FY24. Additionally, with no visible slowdown in growth momentum, I expect the market to continue valuing SAP at a premium, at 36x forward PE compared to the three-year average of 23x.
The macroeconomic environment poses risks, especially if supply chain challenges persist or interest rates rise. Political uncertainties, such as the upcoming U.S. election, could lead to reduced business investment, impacting corporate IT budgets and SAP’s sales. Additionally, if SAP’s S/4HANA and cloud products underperform, or if there are delays in product development or launches, investor expectations may be disappointed, particularly regarding S/4HANA.
To conclude, I maintain my buy rating on SAP. The company’s strong Q3 2024 performance and revised guidance have reinforced my positive view. The accelerating growth in cloud revenue, driven by solid S/4 HANA migration and increased AI adoption, is highly encouraging. While macro risks remain, SAP’s robust fundamentals and favorable growth outlook support a buy rating.
