FILE PHOTO: The logo of SAP is seen on their offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
(Reuters) -Business software maker SAP on Wednesday reaffirmed its full-year outlook for its key cloud business revenue after slightly missing analyst expectations in the third quarter.
Cloud revenue rose by 16% in the third quarter on the back of its application services and HANA software to 3.47 billion euros ($3.66 billion).
According to forecasts compiled by data provider Visible Alpha on behalf of the company, analysts had predicted cloud revenue rising by 18% in the quarter to 3.525 billion euros.
Orders on hand in the cloud business grew by 25% in constant currency, as in the same period last year, according to SAP.
Shares were up 1.8% in early trade on Thursday.
"The weak spot cloud revenues should cap a too positive share price reaction," said Alpha Wertpapiershandels GmbH analysts.
For the full year, the company reaffirmed its cloud revenue outlook in the range of 14 billion-14.2 billion euros.
"Our Q3 results demonstrate strong execution and the resilience of our business, including sustained cloud growth in spite of persisting macro headwinds," finance chief Dominik Asam said.
($1 = 0.9491 euros)
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru and Hakan ErsanWriting by Miranda MurrayEditing by Shailesh Kuber and Friederike Heine)
