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SAP SE (SAP) is trading down in extended hours after coming in shy of Street estimates for per-share earnings in Q1.

SAP remains bullish for 2024

On the plus side, the software giant reiterated its outlook for 2024 on Monday.

SAP ended its recent quarter with €14.2 billion ($15.13 billion) of cloud backlog which translates to a 27% annualised growth. Christian Klein – chief executive of the software giant said in a press release today:

We’re off to a great start in 2024 and are confident we’ll achieve our goals for the year. Our transformation programme is also well on track and will help us to capture this growth and increase efficiency.

The multinational improved its free cash flow by a whopping 28% to €2.49 billion in Q1 as well. SAP stock is now down about 7.0% versus its year-to-date high.

Driven by our values, designed for people, AI at SAP has ethics at its core. https://t.co/U4X60y4uRV pic.twitter.com/gKy5QpIlwh

— SAP (@SAP) April 5, 2024

SAP Q1 earnings snapshot

SAP saw its total revenue print at €8.04 billion for the first quarter as cloud revenue went up 24% on a year-over-year basis on continued demand for artificial intelligence.

On a per-share basis (non-IFRS), the multinational earned 81 cents in Q1 – up 8.0% versus the same quarter of 2023. CEO Klein also said in the earnings report on Monday:

Looking ahead, we have powerful growth drivers in place – Business AI, cross-selling across our cloud portfolio, and winning new customers particularly in the midmarket.

Note that analysts had forecast the European firm to report €8.03 billion in revenue on €1.04 of earnings per share. Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on $SAP that pays a dividend yield of 1.34% at writing.

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