Symantec Corp. said its profit fell 36% in the latest quarter, although the cybersecurity company's earnings excluding items were above its expectations.

The company posted higher margins in consumer security, while its enterprise security operations had strong growth in information protection business.

Symantec said in August that it agreed to sell its Veritas data-storage and recovery business to investors led by private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP for $8 billion.

The deal underscores growing competition in computer security as data breaches routinely land on front pages and evening newscasts.

Symantec helped pioneer the industry with its antivirus software during the 1980s and 1990s. But it has fallen behind as intruders learned how to outsmart its software. Its new rivals have included Cylance Inc., CrowdStrike Inc. and FireEye Inc.

The Mountain View, Calif., has worked on new products to compete with these and other companies. On Oct. 26, it unveiled Symantec Advanced Threat Protection, which helps companies quickly deal with a variety of threats from a single console.

Veritas has operated separately since Oct. 3. The sale is expected to close by Jan. 1. In financial guidance for the standalone Symantec business, the company projects earnings excluding items of 22 cents to 25 cents a share for the quarter ended Jan. 1, on revenue of $890 million to $920 million.

For the quarter ended Oct. 2, Symantec earned $156 million, or 23 cents a share, down from $244 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings excluding items were 44 cents a share. Revenue fell 7% to $1.5 billion.

In August, Symantec said it expected earnings excluding items of 40 cents to 43 cents on revenue of $1.485 billion to $1.525 billion.

Symantec, which increased its stock-buyback authorization to $2.6 billion in August, said Thursday that it is accelerating $500 million of repurchases.

Symantec shares recently traded at $20.86, down three cents.

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 05, 2015 16:45 ET (21:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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