New Backup Services Have Big Potential

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $18 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 846.4 million; Market cap: $15.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) has launched a service called Symantec Protection Network, which lets small and mid-sized businesses back up their data and have it protected at an off-site facility. This new service nicely complements the company’s Backup Exec on-site backup and restore software. Products and services like these help businesses protect sensitive data, and quickly recover from hardware failure or other problems. Meanwhile, Symantec’s earnings rose 16.3% in the three months ended December 31, 2007, to $291.7 million from $250.8 million a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items. Earnings per share rose 26.9%, to $0.33 from $0.26 on 9% fewer shares outstanding. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, revenues rose 15.3% to $1.53 billion from $1.32 billion. Symantec is a buy for aggressive investors. investors…