Symantec Aims To Cut Spam

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $14.04 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; SI Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 839.1 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion) is acquiring privately held UK-based MessageLabs for $695 million in cash. MessageLabs offers online software that helps users protect their email and instant messaging services from spam. MessageLabs gives Symantec exposure to this growing niche market. Symantec also plans to use MessageLab’s technology to develop other online security products. As well, it aims to sell its other products to MessageLabs’ customers. With over 19,000 customers, Message- Labs generated $145 million in sales in the year ended July 31, up 20% from a year earlier. To put that in context, Symantec had revenues of $1.7 billion in the latest quarter. Symantec is still a buy. buy…