SAP’s stock dropped more than 10 percent on Thursday as the business software vendor warned of lower-than-expected revenue growth for its most recent quarter.Just three months ago, SAP reported that demand for its products was growing at a breakneck pace, and the company predicted that it would report software revenue growth somewhere between 15 percent and 17 percent for 2006. On Thursday, however, it warned that this number would be closer to 13.5 percent.Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be about 2.95 billion euros (US$3.82 billion), a year-over-year increase of 7 percent. Software revenue was up 7 percent for the quarter, totaling about 1.26 billion euros, the company said. Software sales slowed in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions, SAP reported. In the United States and Japan, sales dropped to a 4 percent growth rate during the fourth quarter. The enterprise software vendor reported 13 percent revenue growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. SAP is expected to provide guidance for 2007’s outlook and announce detailed fourth-quarter 2006 results on Jan. 24.SAP’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange (SAP) closed at $48.50 Thursday, down more than 10 percent from the previous day’s $54.13 close. -Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)Related Links: SAP Keeping Close Eye on Open Source SAP Cofounder Brings ‘Design Thinking’ to Europe IT in 2007: A Look AheadCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe