Tech’s mixed quarter continues as the world’s third and fourth largest software companies report, and offer sharply differing pictures of the future. What do you want first? The good news or the bad?

German software giant SAP (the fourth largest software company after Microsoft and Oracle) reported a 13% increase in profit to €850 million for its December quarter.

Revenue also rose, climbing 8% to €3.49 billion as demand held up for SAP’s supply chain and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, used for inventory management, billing and HR.

SAP: worse times ahead
Yet 8% is lower than SAP’s double-digit growth of previous quarters, and the company sees tougher times ahead. Accordingly, it plans to lay-off 3000 staff, or 6% of its global workforce.

SAP’s Nasdaq-listed stock rose 4.4% in regular trading today, then a further 0.9% after results were posted after hours.

Symantec: okay times ahead
Symantec’s bottom line was walloped by a $US7 billion goodwill impairment charge, blamed on the recession, and the company’s own lower market cap as tech shares crater.

But excluding the charge, the Silicon Valley-based security software maker’s profit was a shade ahead of analysts’ predictions at $US350 million ($US0.42 a share), compared to the year-ago quarter’s $US292 million ($US0.32 cents a share).

Including the charge, the company lost $US6.81 billion, or an ugly $US8.23 a share.

Revenue was essentially flat at $1.51 billion. International sales were down 5.8%, while sales in the U.S. increased 6.5%.

Looking ahead, Symantec sees earnings of $US0.33 a share for its quarter ending April on revenue of $US1.45 to $1.5 billion, in line with analysts’ estimates and, along with IBM, one of the only relatively sunny outlooks in tech. Symantec shares rose 4.57% in regular trading, then a further 3.55% after hours.