NAVN vs SAP: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: SAP is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. NAVN and SAP share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined NAVN and SAP exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Navan, Inc. runs an all-in-one platform that combines corporate travel booking with expense management and payment cards. Employees book flights, hotels, and rental cars inside company travel policy, while the integrated expense product automates receipt capture, approvals, and reconciliation, and the Navan card ties spending back to the same system. Revenue comes from three main sources: travel booking fees and commissions, software subscriptions for the expense product, and interchange on card spending. The mix is roughly 90 percent usage-based and 10 percent subscription, so results track corporate travel activity and gross booking volume. Navan generated about $702 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, up roughly 31 percent, on about $9.1 billion of gross booking volume.

Full NAVN guide

SAP SE is a German enterprise-software company and one of the world's largest ERP providers, whose systems form the operational backbone of many of the biggest corporations and public-sector organizations. Its products span finance, supply chain, procurement, human resources, spend management, and analytics, anchored by the S/4HANA ERP suite and delivered increasingly as cloud services. US investors typically access SAP through its NYSE-listed ADR under the ticker SAP; the underlying ordinary shares trade in Frankfurt.

Full SAP guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• NAVN drivers: Revenue growth and gross booking volume; Narrowing losses and path to profitability.
• SAP drivers: Cloud transition and recurring revenue; Cloud ERP Suite momentum.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Navan is not yet profitable, so continued heavy spending on sales, marketing, and R&D could keep losses running if growth slows. For SAP, the main risk is expectations: SAP trades as a high-quality compounder, so a slowdown in cloud growth, backlog, or margin progress could weigh on a valuation that already prices in successful execution.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick NAVN if you believe its drivers more; SAP if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the NAVN and SAP guides.

NAVN. As of July 2026, Navan trades around $26 per share for a market cap near $6.6 billion, roughly in line with its October 2025 IPO price after a weak first day. With trailing revenue near $700 million and still-negative earnings, the stock carries no meaningful price-to-earnings figure and instead trades on a mid-single-digit price-to-sales multiple, which is elevated versus some peers but reflects its faster growth. The valuation embeds expectations that Navan keeps growing revenue and converts scale into profit over time.

SAP. Figures are approximate, reported in euros, and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. SAP typically trades at a premium software valuation that reflects its entrenched ERP position and improving cloud economics, so the earnings multiple leans on continued cloud growth and margin expansion. Because it is an ADR, US-dollar returns also depend on the euro-dollar exchange rate, which can add or subtract from the underlying business performance.

Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): NAVN shows revenue (fy ended jan 2026) ~$702M (~31% growth), fiscal q1 revenue (apr 2026) ~$220M (~40% YoY), fiscal q1 net loss ~$20M (narrowed from ~$61M), cash and equivalents ~$908M; SAP shows total revenue (q1 2026) ~9.6 billion euros, up ~12% at constant currencies, cloud revenue (q1 2026) ~5 billion euros, up ~27% at constant currencies, current cloud backlog ~22 billion euros, up ~25% at constant currencies, cloud erp suite growth Growing faster than overall cloud (reported around 30%+ range).

NAVN and SAP are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined NAVN and SAP exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.