SAP shares surge as first-quarter earnings beat market view on cost discipline
The provider of systems to run finance, sales, supply chain and other corporate functions on Tuesday reported an adjusted operating profit of 2.5 billion euros ($2.86 billion) for the first quarter, beating analysts' expectations for 2.22 billion. Analysts said the stock performance was due to improved results on the most important metrics - free cash flow, cloud order backlog and operating profit - and SAP maintaining its outlook for cloud revenues in a range of 21.6 billion euros ($24.60 billion) to 21.9 billion euros for this year. Finance chief Dominik Asam said the operating profit was "testament to our cost discipline".