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SAP Reportedly Under Investigation by DOJ for Price-Fixing, Stock Down

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SAP SE (SAP - Free Report) , along with Carahsoft Technologies, is being investigated by U.S. officials for conspiring to overcharge government agencies, according to a Bloomberg report. Following this development, shares of SAP fell 3.3% and closed yesterday’s trading session at $223.29.

Citing federal court records filed in Baltimore, Bloomberg added that since 2022, the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) attorneys have been investigating whether SAP colluded with Carahsoft to fix prices on sales to the military and other parts of the U.S. government. In connection with this investigation, the offices of Carahsoft in Virginia have been raided by FBI agents and investigators from the military.

Citing the court filings, Bloomberg noted that the DOJ’s investigation is primarily centered around the companies for potentially rigging the market for more than $2 billion worth of SAP technology bought by the U.S. government in the last decade. The DOJ is also probing the role of a segment of Accenture and other software resellers in potential price-fixing. 

SAP SE Price and Consensus

SAP SE Price and Consensus

SAP SE price-consensus-chart | SAP SE Quote

Further, the report added that it is uncertain as to when the DOJ attorneys have started to examine SAP and Carahsoft’s relationship. In June 2022, Carahsoft received a demand from prosecutors to hand over documents and provide information about possible violations of the False Claims Act.

Carahsoft has quickly emerged as a leading name in the government technology procurement market with the second-highest value of contracts directly with the government, totaling $3.5 billion since the beginning of fiscal 2020, per Bloomberg Government data. Citing court filings, Bloomberg noted that out of these contracts, Carahsoft got 600 plus federal contracts for SAP technology, amounting to more than $990 million and “facilitated” $1 billion more in additional sales.
 

SAP’s Statement on the Ongoing Probe

SAP issued an emailed statement stating that it has been working with the DOJ regarding the civil investigation “since the beginning” and has not divulged any further information, added Bloomberg.

Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is one of the largest independent software vendors in the world and the leading provider of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) software. SAP’s performance is cushioned by momentum in its cloud business especially rising demand for the Rise with SAP and Grow with SAP solutions.

Powered by resilient performance in the cloud business, SAP reported total revenues on a non-IFRS basis of €8.288 billion ($8,921.3 million), which rose 10% year over year at nominal and constant-currencies (cc) basis in the last reported quarter.

The strong financial performance has also propelled the stock trajectory upward. Year to date, shares have gained 44.5% compared with the sub-industry and the S&P 500 composite’s growth of 14.1% and 20%, respectively.

YTD Price Performance

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

At present, SAP carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
 

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks worth consideration in the broader technology space are Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) , American Software, Inc. and ANSYS (ANSS - Free Report) . While Seagate sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), AMSWA and ANSYS carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STX’s fiscal 2025 EPS is pegged at $7.41, unchanged in the past 30 days. STX’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing in the remaining quarter, with the average surprise being 80.9%. The stock has surged 67.6% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for American Software’s 2024 EPS is pegged at 38 cents, unchanged in the past seven days. AMSWA’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while matching in the remaining quarter, with the average surprise being 84.5%. Its shares have declined 4.3% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ANSS’ 2024 earnings is pegged at $9.96, unchanged in the past 30 days. ANSS’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters while missing the mark once, with the average surprise being 4.8%. Its shares have gained 8.5% in the past year.


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