SAP announces Q1 software license beat on weak comp On a soft -32% comp, SAP reported 11% software license growth. Licenses beat consensus by 22% and our estimate by 11% (as we expected a license beat). Cloud revenues grew 13% in constant currency, below the +14.7% consensus (but just above our 12.3% estimate and in-line with consensus on an absolute basis at EUR2.15bn). We assume ~1.3% came from MandA, suggesting the Q1 result was a further slowdown from the 13% c/c growth in Q4. The reported current cloud backlog (CCB) growth of 14.8% was slightly below the +15.2% consensus, but the 19% c/c growth likely confirms that Q1 will be the cloud growth low, as guided for by SAP, following the 14% CCB growth in Q4. Concur should see y/y improvements starting in Q2. SAP said it saw ''a sharp acceleration in new cloud business across its cloud portfolio.'' See results table on page 2. Raising low end of FY cloud guidance despite in-line Q1 cloud revs and CCB. No license raise despite Q1 beat. SAP is raising the low end of its FY cloud revenue guidance, but not its implied software license / maintenance guidance. FY Cloud rev guide goes from EUR9.1 - 9.5bn to 9.2 - 9.5bn (in c/c), so a EUR50m raise at the mid-point (or 0.5%). Despite the EUR91m license beat, there is no license raise. And despite the EUR240m non IFRS EBIT beat (EUR1.74 vs EUR1.5bn), there is no raise to the FY EUR7.8 - 8.2bn non IFRS EBIT guidance. So is RISE working? At the Q4 results, investors shrugged off the license beat as SAP is supposed to be transitioning away from licenses and migrating customers to the cloud. In an investor survey we did earlier this year, 0% of investors said they thought a license beat would be a catalyst for the stock. SAP has beat again on licenses in Q1, and maintenance revenues were flat in c/c, so there are no tangible (financial) signs yet that RISE is having an impact. SAP has not yet disclosed any new metrics to track RISE''s success. SAP''s comments...