Oracle vs. SAP: Battle of the Winter 2009-2010 Balance Sheets

Everyone loves to pit Oracle and SAP against one another—including the executives of the two behemoths that sell ERP, CRM, BI and supply chain software.

Now that SAP just released its fourth-quarter earnings (Oracle did so in late December 2009), now is as good a time as any to break down—in a head-to-head balance-sheet battle—just how each fared, as CIO.com has done previously.

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In addition, we’ll look at the burning questions facing each vendor now, and what the “safe harbor” outlook for 2010 is. (Two things to note: Oracle’s and SAP’s fiscal years don’t run on the same calendar periods. So I’m actually looking at Oracle’s Q2 FY 2010 numbers vs. SAP’s Q4 FY 2009 numbers. “Change” compares the most recent quarter’s GAAP results to the quarter the year previous.)

Total Revenues / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
$5.9B / +4%		$4.5B / -9%
Net Income / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
$1.5B / +12%		$1.1B / -12%
Total Operating Margins / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
37% / +2 percentage points		33% / -3.5 percentage points
Software Revenues / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
$1.7B / +2%		$1.6B / -15%
Service & Support Revenues / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
$3.2B / +14%		$3.6B / -4%
Total Number of Employees (at end of quarter) / Change
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
83,366 / -3,291		47,578 / -3,922
Earnings Conference Call Quote
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
Oracle co-president Charles Phillips: “Exadata is on fire. The main problem we have now is production capacity.”		SAP CEO Leo Apotheker: “Q4 2008 was a record quarter, the best in the history of the business. That’s the main reason for the decline [in Q4 2009].”
What Maintenance and Support Problem?
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
Maintenance revenue “is a number that’s always going to go up because customers feel they’re getting a fantastic value for it.” -Safra Catz, Oracle co-president		“We’ll be fine. We anticipate that the majority of our customers will stay on Enterprise Support.” -Bill McDermott, SAP executive board member and president of global field operations
Big, Scary Numbers to Consider
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
GAAP operating cash flow on a trailing 12-month basis: $8.7 billion, up 7%.		CEO Apotheker wants to have 1 billion SAP users by 2014.
New Rival
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
IBM		NetSuite
“Forward-Looking” Statements
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
CEO Larry Ellison on the much anticipated Fusion Applications: It’ll be made up of “components” that will not necessitate a “rip-and-replace sales strategy.” Still no ship date.		SAP executives expect software and software-related service revenue to increase by between 4% and 8% in 2010.
Nagging Questions
Oracle	EDGE	SAP
Now that the Sun deal is done, does this make ‘Snoracle’ too big? How long will Oracle remain “untouchable” from the 22% maintenance mess? Fusion Apps: A Miracle or Mirage?		Are Two Tiers of maintenance and support pricing Too Little, Too Late? How hot is the seat where CEO LEO sits? The lawsuit-that-shall-not-be-named (TomorrowNow) just got worse for SAP.
Table by Thomas Wailgum

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