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Seoul Stocks Fall Sharply as AI Investment Concerns Hit Chip SharesGridCraft offers open-source Excel alternative across Linux, macOS and WindowsAI agents traced to Tencent Cloud made 2,600-plus Amap queries, then thanked researchersYonsei University portal hack exposes data of about 10,000 students and graduatesNetflix’s ‘Tantara,’ Starring Song Hye-kyo and Gong Yoo, Set for Dec. 11 PremiereGoogle open-sources TorchTPU; Tencent opens Yuanbao Search API
Companies

SAP Posts Record Quarterly Revenue, Raises Outlook as AI Demand Drives Cloud Growth

SAP's record €10.27 billion quarter came with a raised full-year revenue outlook and a 26% increase in cloud backlog.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-22 11:48

The German software company said earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation were €1.89 per share on total sales of €10.27 billion. Analysts had expected €1.83 per share on revenue of €10.10 billion, according to the report.

SAP's cloud revenue rose 25% to €6.67 billion in the quarter, while non-IFRS operating profit increased 18% to €3.03 billion. Its current cloud backlog rose 26% to €24.11 billion, ahead of analyst forecasts of 24% to 25% growth. The company maintained its full-year operating profit outlook at €11.8 billion to €12.2 billion, first disclosed in July.

The result is watched as an indicator of enterprise software spending because SAP's software runs accounting and payroll systems at many of the world's largest companies, SiliconANGLE reported.

CEO Christian Klein said the quarter showed progress in SAP's "autonomous enterprise" strategy, which the company first outlined in May at its Sapphire customer conference. A central part of that strategy is Joule, SAP's autonomous AI agent offering. Joule can connect to more than 70 AI models and is designed to act as a conversational interface layer for customers, working alongside SAP applications rather than inside them.

"AI was the main driver behind customers' move to the cloud during the quarter," Klein told analysts on a conference call, according to the report. He said hundreds of customers had signed up for new subscriptions to access Joule.

CFO Dominik Asam said the fourth quarter will be critical in determining how the rest of SAP's financial year ends. He warned that the company is operating against a gloomy economic backdrop, with rising oil prices and U.S. interest rates that are "starting to develop teeth."

Cloud growth in the quarter was helped in part by customers returning from "financial distress," Asam said, according to SiliconANGLE. That contributed to an expansion in profit margin to 29.5% from 28.3% in the prior quarter. Free cash flow rose 36% to €1.72 billion.

For fiscal 2026, Asam said he expects subscription revenue at the upper end of SAP's forecast range of €25.8 billion to €26.2 billion, growth of 23% to 25%. Including a decline in its classic perpetual license business, full-year revenue should be between €36.3 billion and €36.8 billion, up 12% to 13%.