SAP isn't concerned about third-party competition. "The value proposition of Rimini Street is best suited for customers that are running software that can't be upgraded, which is not the case with SAP customers," says SAP Executive Vice-President Janet Wood. But at least one of SAP's largest customers, Germany's Siemens (SI), might not agree. According to published reports, Siemens is considering using third-party maintenance, which would be a blow to SAP. Wood wouldn't respond directly to those reports, saying: "We have a great relationship with Siemens.

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9%

60

Hold - Price 56.36 on Oct. 10
by Wedbush Morgan
SAP to acquire Business Objects (BOBJ); two can play at the large acquisition game. While SAP's proposed acquisition of BOBJ could expand the company's channel-partner ecosystem and improve its positioning relative to Oracle (ORCL), we are concerned that management's newfound willingness to make large acquisitions could confirm our thesis that the company's organic growth rate could decelerate over the next several years. SAP intends to acquire BOBJ for €42 a share (about $60/[total]$6.8 billion) in an all-cash offer....BOBJ's license revenue growth rate has been lower than SAP's [in recent] years, which could cause SAP future product revenue to...decelerate if/when the deal closes. Reiterate Hold and 54 target, reflecting 21 times multiple of our '08 EPS estimate of 1.87, representing a [price-to-earnings-growth ratio] of about 1.7.

From Barron's 7-23-07:

"Every time critics suggest that SAP is past its prime, the German software company hits back with a surprisingly strong earnings report, as it did last week...What's different this time is that SAP increasingly looks like low-hanging fruit for some leveraged-buyout firm. SAP's shares have trailed Germany's benchmark Dax index by 25% over the past year. (The company's American depositary shares, traded under the ticker SAP, are in the mid-50s.) So its managers are under pressure...This makes the stock cheap, at a forward enterprise value/Ebitda multiple of 14 times its share price. SAP is also debt-free and has nearly 3 billion euros in cash."

1.1%

Solid tech.

Larry Ellison

ORCL should bury SAP in next two years, managment two slow and losing key execs

I really thought they were going places when I bought it. They haven't gone anywhere but I haven't lost money.