SAP Heads Into Q2 Earnings: Key Drivers Investors Should Watch

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SAP Heads Into Q2 Earnings: Key Drivers Investors Should Watch

SAP SE SAP is scheduled to post results for the second quarter of 2026 on July 23, after market close.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings is $2 per share, indicating a 17.6% increase from the year-ago reported number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pinned at $11.4 billion, implying a 11.4% jump from the year-ago figure.

SAP's earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 6.5%. Shares of the company have plunged 48.2% in the past year compared with the Computers - Software industry's loss of 29.4%.

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Cloud Momentum, AI Strategy & Margins Under the Spotlight

SAP’s cloud-first strategy, successful migration of customers to subscription-based offerings and disciplined cost management are likely to have cushioned its performance in the second quarter. The rapid adoption of Rise with SAP and Grow with SAP solutions is driving sales, while SAP Business AI, Business Data Cloud and Sovereign Cloud are gaining solid traction. In the first quarter, the cloud backlog rose 25% and cloud revenue increased 27%. Cloud ERP Suite revenue accelerated 30%, driven by strong demand, with more than 70% of order entry coming from public cloud solutions.

Another major focus will be customer adoption of SAP S/4HANA, the company's next-generation ERP platform. Every successful migration not only increases cloud revenue but also creates opportunities to cross-sell additional SAP products. Key indicators include the number of S/4HANA customers, cloud migration rates, new enterprise wins and expansion within existing customers. AI monetization strategy is also paying off. SAP believes broader adoption of its AI-powered autonomous suite across industries will accelerate long-term growth. It is leveraging AI across engineering, customer support and sales to boost productivity and streamline operations, targeting €2 billion in efficiencies by 2028 through AI-driven transformation.

In May, SAP made plans to make its sustainability AI agents generally available by the end of 2026. Currently in beta, the agents have delivered strong results, including a 50% reduction in packaging compliance review time, scenario simulations cut from a day to 20 minutes, up to 80% less manual GHS classification effort and more than 20% fewer packaging compliance errors.

SAP's frequent acquisitions strengthen its master data governance capabilities across SAP and non-SAP environments, while its open-platform strategy protects proprietary expertise and enables partner and customer innovation. In May, SAP agreed to acquire Prior Labs to strengthen its leadership in Tabular Foundation Models. As part of the deal, SAP will invest more than €1 billion over the next four years to help Prior Labs grow into a leading AI research lab focused on structured business data, while continuing to operate independently. SAP also agreed to acquire Dremio to strengthen SAP Business Data Cloud with faster, real-time analytics and AI capabilities by better integrating SAP and non-SAP data. Financial details were not disclosed, and the deal is awaiting regulatory approval.

SAP SE Price and EPS Surprise

SAP SE Price and EPS Surprise

SAP SE price-eps-surprise | SAP SE Quote

Profitability has become an equally important investment theme. SAP has undertaken significant restructuring efforts over the past two years aimed at improving operational efficiency while reallocating resources toward high-growth cloud and AI initiatives. In the first quarter, non-IFRS cloud gross profit increased 20% year over year, while operating profit rose 17%, boosting the margin to 30%.

However, quarter-specific cloud revenue tailwinds may lead to slower growth in the second quarter. Additionally, geopolitical tensions, especially the Middle East conflict, could disrupt supply chains, delay customer spending decisions and adversely impact deal activity. While SAP is not fully protected from these disruptions, the increased economic uncertainty also makes it more difficult to accurately predict the company’s quarterly performance. 

Although SAP maintains a strong position and pipeline in this area, these more complex, regulated deals—particularly in government, defense and sensitive industries—take longer to negotiate, deploy and scale compared to standard cloud offerings. Some of its businesses also rely on an operational cyberspace, which exposes them to issues resulting from cybersecurity breaches, affecting both their reputation and the time and resources needed to resolve legal claims. Meanwhile, complex data integration, hybrid ERP environments and strict compliance demands make AI implementation more difficult, potentially slowing enterprise adoption.

Furthermore, software support revenue is likely to decline faster as more customers shift to the cloud.

What Our Model Predicts for SAP

Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for SAP this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. This is not the case here.

SAP has an Earnings ESP of -1.25% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our  Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks With Favorable Combination

Here are some companies with the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

Cincinnati Financial Corporation CINF has an Earnings ESP of +7.22% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CINF is set to report quarterly numbers on July 27, after market close. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cincinnati Financial’s second-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.82 per share, indicating a year-over-year decrease of 7.6%. Its earnings beat estimates in each of the past four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 27.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CINF's revenues is pegged at $3.01 billion, indicating an 8.4% increase from the year-ago reported figure.

The Allstate Corporation ALL has an Earnings ESP of +10.88% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. ALL is gearing up for quarterly results on Aug. 5, after market close.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Allstate’s second-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $5.33 per share, indicating a year-over-year decrease of 10.3%. Its earnings beat estimates in each of the last four reported quarters, delivering an average surprise of 51.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALL's revenues is pegged at $17.73 billion, indicating a 5.7% increase from the year-ago reported figure.

Chubb Limited CB has an Earnings ESP of +1.09% and a Zacks Rank of #3 at present. CB is set to report quarterly earnings on July 21, after market close.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chubb’s second-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $6.6 per share, indicating a year-over-year increase of 7.5%. Its earnings beat estimates in each of the last four reported quarters, delivering an average surprise of 12.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chubb's revenues is pegged at $15.89 billion, indicating a 7.3% increase from the year-ago reported figure.

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SAP SE (SAP): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Chubb Limited (CB): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Allstate Corporation (ALL): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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