An 80% Dividend Hike By SAP, Sort Of... A Birthday Present (SAP, ORCL, HPQ)

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) has some news out that may sound too good to be true on the surface.  The company’s executive board has prepared the company’s 2011 consolidated financial statements.  More importantly, it is going to recommend to SAP’s Supervisory Board to propose a huge dividend increase at the annual shareholder meeting.

The increase is being put at a gain of 83% in Euro terms from euro 0.60 to euro 1.10 per share for the fiscal year 2011.   Before you count this as a permanent endorsement, keep in mind that this dividend hike does include a special dividend of euro 0.35 per share that is aimed to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary.

Are we supposed to take this as a “birthday dividend” in a sort?  It seems as though that is actually the case.

Maybe it took a former SAP CEO to take down Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), but it has been hard to not notice that Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) ran into some headwinds with its last earnings.   Or…Maybe this is another signal that market share is not being destroyed endless on a permanent basis.

JON C. OGG