By Angela Chen
Symantec Corp. Thursday reported that revenue fell in two of its
three segments--including 10% in its key security business--during
the fourth-quarter, leading the cybersecurity company to post a
downbeat guidance for the first-quarter.
Shares dropped nearly 4% in recent after-hours.
For the current quarter, the company expects earnings of 42 to
45 cents a share on revenue of $1.53 to $1.59 billion. Analysts had
called for earnings of 49 cents on revenue of $1.63 billion.
Symantec, which in the late 1980s pioneered computer security
with its antivirus software, has struggled to shift its
consumer-security business to subscriptions from one-time license
sales. In November, the Silicon Valley company said it plans to
split operations by the end of next year into two publicly traded
companies, one focused on security and another on information
management.
In the fourth-quarter, the security business, which includes
Symantec's Norton antivirus offerings, recorded sales of $461
million, down from $517 million a year earlier. Enterprise security
revenue fell to $509 million from $528 million.
The information management business, which includes data backup
and recovery, grew slightly to $668 million from $660 million.
Overall, the Mountain View, Calif., company reported a profit of
$222 million, or 32 cents a share, down from $283 million, or 40
cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation
and other items, earnings rose to 53 cents a share, from 52 cents a
year earlier.
Revenue fell 4% to $1.64 billion.
The company previously announced guidance of 47 cents to 50
cents a share on $1.65 billion to $1.69 billion in revenue for the
fourth-quarter.
Revenue from content, subscription and maintenance fell 6% to
$1.41 billion, while license revenue jumped 15% to $226
million.
Shares of Symantec have been up about 27% in the past 12 months
through Thursday's close.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com
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