By Angela Chen
Symantec Corp. on Thursday issued downbeat guidance for the
current quarter and full year, as revenue in its March quarter fell
7%.
Shares dropped nearly 3% in recent after-hours trading.
For the full year, the cybersecurity company forecast revenue of
$6.21 billion to $6.35 billion and per-share earnings in the range
of $1.80 to $1.90. Analysts had expected $6.38 billion in sales,
and $1.90 a share in earnings.
For the current quarter, the company expects earnings of 41 to
44 cents a share on revenue of $1.5 billion to $1.54 billion.
Analysts had called for earnings of 45 cents on revenue of $1.62
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.
However, last month The Wall Street Journal reported that the
company is exploring a sale of its Veritas data-storage and
recovery business as an alternative to its plan to split into two
publicly traded companies.
In the latest quarter, revenue from content, subscription and
maintenance fell 8% to $1.32 billion, while license revenue grew 4%
to $200 million.
Overall, the Mountain View, Calif. company reported a profit of
$176 million, or 25 cents a share, down from $217 million, or 31
cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, earnings fell to 43 cents a share, from
48 cents a year earlier.
Revenue fell 7% to $1.52 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of 44 cents on revenue of $1.56
billion.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires