SAP Wins Two Broker Upgrades and a 2030 Support Pledge — Neither Moves Its Earnings Guidance
Published on 10/25/2026 at 20:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Two broker upgrades and a long-dated customer support commitment landed on SAP this week, yet the software maker's profit forecast stayed exactly where it was. Deutsche Bank Research and Jefferies both raised their price targets on Thursday — to €235 and €250 respectively — while keeping buy ratings intact. Media reports put the prior targets at €200 and €220.
The split between what analysts see and what SAP itself projects is the crux of the week. Higher targets are not a promise of matching share-price performance, nor do they substitute for a raised earnings outlook. The buy calls express a positive view of the equity; SAP's own profit planning runs on a separate track.
Cloud Revenue Outpaces the Group
Underpinning the bullish broker stance was a third quarter of 2026 in which revenue crossed the €10 billion mark, reaching €10.27 billion. Total sales grew 13%, while cloud revenue climbed 26% to €6.67 billion — expanding faster than the group as a whole. The current cloud backlog rose 28% to €24.1 billion, and both IFRS and non-IFRS operating profit advanced 18%.
SAP now expects cloud revenue for 2026 at the upper end of its existing range of €25.8 billion to €26.2 billion. On non-IFRS operating profit, however, management left its plan untouched — the cloud optimism did not carry over into a wider earnings band. Currency-adjusted, that operating profit outlook sits at €11.8 billion to €12.2 billion.
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A Separate Thread: Support Through 2030
Alongside the growth story, SAP on Friday gave customers of existing German energy-market solutions more room to plan, offering them the option to continue maintenance and support through 31 December 2030. The commitment applies expressly to those existing solutions and opens the door to longer care for interested customers; it does not announce automatic continuation across the entire customer base.
That distinction matters. The choice sits with the customer, not an obligation to migrate to any particular technology. For investors, the move reads as a signal of stewardship over the installed base rather than a fresh revenue or earnings forecast — how much it is worth economically depends on how many customers take up the option.
Two Sides of the Same Customer Relationship
The support pledge and the cloud expansion address different halves of SAP's relationship with its clients. The quarterly figures describe business momentum; the support notice fixes a care horizon for certain legacy applications. Neither implies an acceleration nor a delay in the shift to the cloud.
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SAP also steered its cloud and software revenue outlook toward the top of the prior range on Wednesday, confirming the currency-adjusted non-IFRS operating profit target of €11.8 billion to €12.2 billion. The longer support window should not be conflated with an additional lift to financial expectations.
The next scheduled reporting date is 28 January 2027, when SAP intends to publish preliminary results for the final quarter and for the full year 2026. Until then, the German energy-market commitment offers affected customers a clear care horizon — but no standalone evidence of extra profit growth.
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