Mulitple Security Products Help Symantec Meet Wall Street Expectations

Symantec reported earnings of $300 million or 37 cents per share for its third fiscal quarter ended January 1, compared with a loss of $6.8 billion in the quarter one year ago.

The earnings were in line with the Wall Street consensus of 37 cents per share, according to a survey of Wall Street analysts by First Call.

Symantec said sales for the quarter were $1.55 billion, up from $1.51 billion in the year ago quarter. The sales were slightly above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.51 billion, according to First Call.

Symantec CEO Enrique Salem said the company's ability to sell multiple security products to customers contributed to the strong results. He also credited the company's hosted services, data loss prevention and compliance solutions.

Symantec Chief Financial Officer James Beer said the company was "encouraged by the improving trends" in its software license revenue and by the stabilization of its maintenance revenue.

The Symantec earnings came on the same day that Symantec did a nationwide launch party for its mainstay storage offering Backup Exec 2010.

Symantec said it realized a one-time benefit of $78.5 million or a 10 cents per share benefit to earnings per share in the December 2009 quarter as a result of a favorable ruling by the U.S. Tax Court regarding the Veritas Software tax assessment for 2000 and 2001.

Symantec shares were down 81 cents or four percent to $17.80 in after hours trading. Symantec shares closed up 15 cents per share or one percent to $18.61 on Wednesday, just off a 52 week high of $19.16.