Symantec Reports Record Revenue For Third Fiscal Quarter

This compares with income of $72 million, or 22 cents per share, on sales of $376 million for the year-ago quarter.

The revenue increase represents a record quarter for Symantec, topping its last record quarter in September by $65 million.

First Call Thompson estimates were for earnings of 29 cents and revenue of $460 million.

On top of that, the security vendor expects to report revenue of $2.18 billion by its fiscal year ending in March 2005.

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"It took us 19 years to achieve our first billion in revenue, and with this forecast, we expect our next billion in just three years," said John Thompson, chairman and CEO of Symantec, Cupertino, Calif., during an analyst call.

During the call, Thompson said channel partners are in large part driving Symantec's wins.

"Our relationships with our channel partners and our customers are clearly driving our results," Thompson said. "By responding to their requirements with a broad portfolio of technology for securing and managing the complexity of today's IT environments, our 5,000-plus employees can help them reduce the cost of dealing with an increasingly complex infrastructure, and in doing so, we expect to realize the true growth potential of this company."

International business also had a significant impact on Symantec's third-quarter results. Europe, the Middle East and Eastern Asia accounted for $173 million of the company's revenue for the quarter, a 45 percent increase over last year's quarter. Revenue in Japan increased by 36 percent year over year to account for $39 million, and revenue from the Americas grew by 22 percent, or $42 million, over last year, to $228 million.

Symantec's consumer business posted higher-than-expected results of $242 million for the quarter, representing a growth of 55 percent over third-quarter 2002.

Symantec's enterprise security revenue for the quarter was $187 million, a 17 percent increase over the year-ago quarter, and the Enterprise Administration Business revenue was $53 million, an increase of 2 percent over the year-ago quarter.

As for the company's fiscal year ending in March 2004, the company expects to report revenue of $1.82 billion, an increase of 30 percent, or $417 million, over fiscal-year 2003 and a $94 million increase over prior guidance.