By Liana B. Baker
NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters) - Software maker Symantec Corp posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its earnings forecast on stronger demand for its data storage and security products.
Symantec, which designs anti-virus software, said revenue in the current quarter would be between $1.57 billion to $1.59 billion, ahead of analysts' average estimates of $1.55 billion.
It said earnings would be 36 cents or 37 cents per share, in line with Wall Street's expectations.
'We feel good about our forecast and definitely see continued opportunity in our core business,' said Chief Executive Enrique Salem in an interview.
Symantec's core business is security and storage, said Macquarie Securities analyst Brad Zelnick.
Salem added that the company was gaining a bigger share of the market for data backup.
Symantec's earnings beat and outlook signal the company may be turning around its fortunes, Zelnick said.
'It's been a frustrating many years for shareholders and their turnaround seems to be finally coming,' he said.
For its fiscal fourth quarter. ended April 1, Symantec had a net income of $168 million, or 22 cents per share, down from $184 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier.
Symantec spent more than expected on sales and marketing last year, Zelnick said. Salem, the CEO, said the 10 percent increase in sales and marketing costs was because the company needed to spend more on selling products from some of the companies it had bought.
Excluding items such as restructuring costs, Symantec's earned 38 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimates of 36 cents per share.
The company's revenue rose 11 percent to $1.67 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.59 billion.
Symantec's shares fell 0.5 percent to $19.30 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq.
(Editing by Robert MacMillan and Steve Orlofsky) Keywords: SYMANTEC/ (liana.baker@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters) - Software maker Symantec Corp posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its earnings forecast on stronger demand for its data storage and security products.
Symantec, which designs anti-virus software, said revenue in the current quarter would be between $1.57 billion to $1.59 billion, ahead of analysts' average estimates of $1.55 billion.
It said earnings would be 36 cents or 37 cents per share, in line with Wall Street's expectations.
'We feel good about our forecast and definitely see continued opportunity in our core business,' said Chief Executive Enrique Salem in an interview.
Symantec's core business is security and storage, said Macquarie Securities analyst Brad Zelnick.
Salem added that the company was gaining a bigger share of the market for data backup.
Symantec's earnings beat and outlook signal the company may be turning around its fortunes, Zelnick said.
'It's been a frustrating many years for shareholders and their turnaround seems to be finally coming,' he said.
For its fiscal fourth quarter. ended April 1, Symantec had a net income of $168 million, or 22 cents per share, down from $184 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier.
Symantec spent more than expected on sales and marketing last year, Zelnick said. Salem, the CEO, said the 10 percent increase in sales and marketing costs was because the company needed to spend more on selling products from some of the companies it had bought.
Excluding items such as restructuring costs, Symantec's earned 38 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimates of 36 cents per share.
The company's revenue rose 11 percent to $1.67 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.59 billion.
Symantec's shares fell 0.5 percent to $19.30 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq.
(Editing by Robert MacMillan and Steve Orlofsky) Keywords: SYMANTEC/ (liana.baker@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.