24 July 2026
If you are covering SAP's or Intel's latest financial results, please find below a comment from Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot:
“SAP had an interesting set of results, with good topline growth in revenues and stronger backlog as it transitions its clients to cloud. However, while growth looks good on the surface, costs have increased and that has eaten into SAP’s profits. The company continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence and has historically been one of the first companies to prove scalable efficiencies can be made using the technology.
“However, it is operating in a challenged sector and as such are having to invest heavily in R&D costs with AI specific hires and token usage. SAP is really at the start of the journey in identifying the right mix of human involvement and AI help, and other businesses will soon find themselves in a similar position.
“Software does remain a fragile industry at risk of significant disruption, but SAP is probably one of the best out there. It has a stronger moat than most peers and continues to have a loyal client base. Importantly it kept its guidance for the year, and with a not especially expensive valuation too, it remains a good option for investors.
“Meanwhile in the semiconductor industry, Intel produced a beat and raise as it capitalised on strong demand for data centres. Intel continues to play catch up on the rest of the industry, though, and announced it would be increasing capex to greater than $20bn. This will be music to the ears of the semiconductor equipment companies, such as ASML, as demand shows no sign of slowing down. That said, Intel announced no new customers, and with an agitated shareholder in Donald Trump’s government, there could be political pressure weighed on the industry in the coming months to use Intel.”
