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FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) - Driven by optimistic analysts' comments on SAP and the business confidence of its US industry colleague Salesforce, the Walldorf-based software company's shares continued their record run on Wednesday.

At lunchtime, the stock was among the favorites in the DAX, gaining 2.1 percent to 237.85 euros. The company is worth around 292 billion euros (around 306 billion US dollars). This makes SAP the most valuable listed company in Germany. In the USA, Microsoft is the heavyweight among software companies with a value of 3.2 trillion dollars. Based on Tuesday's closing figures, Salesforce weighs in at 317 billion dollars and Oracle at 507 billion dollars.

On that day, analysts from the Swiss bank UBS and the US bank JPMorgan were positive about SAP shares. In an outlook for the coming year, Toby Ogg from JPMorgan wrote: Even if - with the exception of SAP and Sage - the shares of European software manufacturers and IT service providers have fallen significantly in the course of 2024 and their valuation now appears more attractive, he is "still most convinced of SAP and Sage".

The two shares remain his core recommendations within the sector. Both offered the most attractive prospects for earnings growth over a period of several years. There could be upside potential to the consensus estimates if - as he expected - margins rose above average or potential share buybacks came about.

"SAP and Sage have also made the most progress with the introduction of AI co-pilots," he emphasized. SAP, for example, is currently actively adding new functions to the Group's own Joule platform, an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. Among other things, this involves the integration of AI agents to help manage complex business processes.

New tools are to be introduced soon to improve data processing and decision-making, which, according to UBS analyst Michael Briest, should help SAP to continue to gain market share. He explained that the announced Knowledge Graph, for example, will help customers to map the interaction of different workflows across various processes.

In view of SAP's continued share price gains, the market also referred to Salesforce. "On the one hand, demand for SAP shares is increasing due to the general record sentiment on the market as a whole and, on the other hand, the shares are benefiting from the good quarterly figures of competitor Salesforce," explained market expert Andreas Lipkow. "The US company's operating business was excellent, so the annual targets were raised." Overall, this also fueled the generally positive sentiment in the technology sector.

Although shares in the Sage Group fell slightly in London, they had climbed to a record high just two days previously. In the USA, Salesforce rose by 12.5 percent following figures and positive analyst comments. Analysts Mark Murphy from JPMorgan and Brent Thill from Jefferies, for example, praised Salesforce's profitability in the third quarter. It was better than expected, even if, according to Thill, "the pace of margin growth has slowed somewhat". Murphy also emphasized the good cash development.

Overall, Salesforce shares have gained around 26 percent this year, not including the pre-bubble price gains. SAP has risen by a good 70 percent so far, making it currently the third-largest winner in the leading index. Only Siemens Energy, whose share price has quadrupled, and Rheinmetall, with a price increase of around 125%, have risen more sharply in 2024./ck/tih/jha/