SAP missed Q4 numbers. It stock fell 10%. Revenue was below Wall St. estimates and software license revenue was up only 11%. The firm had earlier guided to 15% to 17%.

Oracle, SAP’s top rival, had its stock beat up in mid-December when its software license business grew 14%, below expectations.

After lagging Oracle’s stock over most of the last year, SAP’s shares have opened up a nice lead over the last month or so. SAP can kiss that lead good-bye.

The broader question to come out of the Orcacle (ORCL) and SAP (SAP) reports is whether there is a global slowing of enterprise software licensing. Microsoft (MSFT) is also in this business, but it is not a large portion of their revenue. At Oracle and SAP, software licenses drive support fees down the road. If licensing is lagging, 2007 could be a long year for the two huge business software rivals.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.