SAP Tops Estimates

Updated from 9:01 a.m. EDT

SAN FRANCISCO -- German enterprise software company SAP (SAP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) reported quarterly revenue that was slightly above Wall Street's expectations Thursday.

SAP reported a top line of $3.45 billion, up 9.5% over the same quarter of 2006 when revenue was $3.15 billion. Analysts were expecting $3.4 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Financial.

The company earned $582.1 million, or 48.5 cents a share, vs. $527.9 million and 43 cents a share in the year-ago period. Analysts were looking for a profit of 46 cents this year.

During the quarter, SAP added Wal-Mart(WMT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) to its client roster. The retailer is installing SAP's enterprise resource planning system, SAP Americas CEO Bill McDermott said in an interview. It replaces JD Edwards software Wal-Mart had been using. JD Edwards is sold by SAP competitor Oracle(ORCL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

SAP said sales of software and services grew 16% worldwide. Growth was 15% in the Americas and 30% in the Asia/Pacific region, McDermott said.

SAP scaled back the pace of its share repurchasing, spending $357 million for 6.2 million shares during the quarter, CFO Werner Brandt said on a conference call. The company bought back 20.4 million shares in the first 9 months.

Operating margin was 24.8%, flat year on year, despite a 120-basis point investment the company made in its on-demand software suite, Business ByDesign, which debuted in September, Brandt said.