Symantec’s cloud focus will pay off

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $33 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares o/s: 614.5 million; Market cap: $20.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.7; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) recently acquired privately held Blue Coat for $4.65 billion. That business makes products to protect clients from cyberattacks. Blue Coat has also emerged as a leader in security for cloud computing (the storage of data files and programs using the Internet); it now serves over 15,000 businesses. Symantec continues to sell some of its operations to focus on its cloud-security offerings. Recently, it sold DigiCert Inc., its website-security- certificate business, for $950 million in cash and a 30% stake in DigiCert. Private-equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC owns DigiCert. Symantec is a buy. buy…