Symantec is now a buy

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $18.33 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517- 8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 789.3 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; No dividends paid) makes software that protects computers from viruses and intruders. It also sells a range of products and services to businesses, including software and services for data backup and protection, as well as data-archiving to meet increasingly strict regulatory and compliance regulations. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, Symantec’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion a year earlier. The company earned $0.35 a share, down 12.5% from $0.40 a year earlier. However, that beat the consensus estimate of $0.33. Publicity around the WikiLeaks affair, involving the public release of often-embarrassing diplomatic cables, has made the company’s customers more security conscious. This should help Symantec sell more data security software, despite the slow pace of the U.S. economic recovery. The stock trades at 13.1 times the $1.40 a share, excluding onetime items, that Symantec…