SAP Cloud Backlog Rises 28% to €24.144 Billion as Company Warns of Booking Pressure

Key Facts

SAP said its current cloud backlog reached €24.144 billion in the third quarter, up 28% nominally and 26% at constant currencies from €18.839 billion a year earlier, while its CFO warned that future bookings could be affected by economic and political conditions. Dominik Asam said the fourth quarter typically accounts for about 50% of annual bookings, adding that current uncertainty could weigh on bookings this quarter and on the company’s trajectory in 2027. Those concerns put year-end demand in focus after the company reported growth in its backlog and cloud revenue in the third quarter. “The fourth quarter accounts for about 50% of our annual bookings,” Asam said. He added that the current political and economic uncertainty “could weigh on fourth-quarter bookings and, consequently, on our trajectory in 2027.”

Cloud revenue reached €6.668 billion in the third quarter, up 26% year on year nominally and 25% at constant currencies, according to the company’s financial statement. Non-IFRS operating profit also rose 18% to €3.030 billion, compared with €2.566 billion in the same period a year earlier. SAP said quarterly revenue exceeded €10 billion for the first time, while non-IFRS operating profit topped €3 billion. The figures reflect continued growth in the cloud business alongside higher operating profit, while management’s warning centers on future bookings and the environment that will shape the company’s trajectory in 2027. The current backlog, which rose from its level a year earlier, indicates the volume of accumulated cloud business at the end of the quarter.

Asam linked his caution about fourth-quarter conditions to rising oil and commodity prices and interest rate levels, saying the current economic environment “is not very good” and that oil prices had risen. He said that backdrop may not be conducive to bookings, as the 2026 backlog outlook assumes the economic environment remains stable during the fourth quarter. SAP forecast a slight slowdown in constant-currency cloud backlog growth during the year, without describing it as an outcome that had already materialized. The stability assumption means the backlog’s year-end trajectory remains tied to economic conditions, while fourth-quarter bookings take on added importance because of their typically large share of the company’s total bookings. The company did not specify in these remarks the potential impact on quarterly bookings or its 2027 trajectory.

On its outlook, SAP raised its 2026 cloud revenue forecast to near the upper end of a range of €25.8 billion to €26.2 billion at constant currencies, with expected growth of between 23% and 25%. It also expected cloud and software revenue to come in at the upper end of a range of €36.3 billion to €36.8 billion, with constant-currency growth of between 12% and 13%. By contrast, the company kept its non-IFRS operating profit forecast at €11.8 billion to €12.2 billion at constant currencies, with expected growth of between 13% and 17%. The outlook upgrade was therefore limited to revenue, while the operating profit range was unchanged. This distinction gives a more precise picture than saying SAP did not raise its outlook: it improved its revenue estimates and kept its operating profit estimate as before.

In share trading, EL7 data showed SAP closing at €238.14 on October 23, 2026, after closing at €240.59 in the previous session. The closing data do not attribute the move to the bookings warning or to any other specific factor. The share performance follows the third-quarter results, which combined increases in cloud revenue and operating profit with a warning about uncertainty’s effect on future bookings. SAP is scheduled to publish its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results on January 28, 2027, at 06:00 Central European Time. Those results will be the next opportunity to assess actual bookings in the quarter the company said typically accounts for about half of its annual bookings, and to review its performance against its current financial outlook.