Symantec Revenue Up, Acquisitions On The Way

The company on Wednesday announced that it posted revenue of $316 million for the quarter, up 39 percent from the same period last year. The growth was driven mainly by the company's enterprise security business, which was up 35 percent, as well as its consumer business, which was up 90 percent.

Net income, including one-time charges around restructuring and the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, came in at $56.6 million, compared to a net loss of $21.2 million from the same quarter last year. Symantec reported earnings per share of 36 cents, compared to a net loss per share of 14 cents for the year-ago quarter.

The company's worldwide enterprise security business represented 42 percent of total revenue for the quarter, growing by 35 percent over the same period last year. That was driven by growth in firewall/VPN, vulnerability management anti-virus sales.

On the acquisition front, the company announced plans to spend $355 million in cash to acquire three companies: Recourse Technologies, for $135 million in cash; Riptech, for $145 million in cash; and SecurityFocus, for $75 million in cash.

Buying Recourse Technologies will provide Symantec with gigabit-performance network intrusion detection product called ManHunt to go with its host-based solution IntruderAlert. That acquisition is an important step in strengthening the company's intrusion-detection business, traditionally one of Symantec's weak spots, says John W. Thompson, Symantec chairman and CEO.

Meanwhile, the addition of Riptech will expand the company's managed security services for clients, while SecurityFocus adds vulnerability database and early warning threat management products.

"The combination of these companies creates a new leader in Internet security for enterprise customers and will redefine how security solutions, services and response should be delivered," said Thompson in a call with analysts Wednesday evening to discuss the quarterly results and the acquisition plans. "The announcements we made this afternoon further underscores our intent to lead the change that is inevitably occurring in a sector that will continue to help set the standards for the future."

Looking forward, the company expects revenue for the next quarter to come in between $300 million and $310 million, with earnings per share, excluding all costs associated with the acquisitions, to be 30 cents a share.