Investopedia: Does Symantec Have A Next Act?

In technology, old dogs have to learn new tricks, or the market is all too willing to send them on that unfortunate one-way trip to the vet. That is a challenge, then, for Symantec (Nasdaq:SYMC). Once a hot tech growth stock, nobody cares about that history today. What investors do care about is evidence that the company has a real future in enterprise security and storage/server management. 


A Solid Close to the Fiscal Year
Symantec ended its fiscal year on a relatively solid note, at least on a relative basis. Revenue rose 9% in the fourth quarter, and surpassed the high end of the analyst estimate range (a surprisingly narrow range, by the way). The company's consumer business rose 6%, the storage/server business grew 8% and the security/compliance business rose 24%. The real laggard was the company's tiny (5% of revenue) service business, where revenue dropped 21%. (For more, see The Data Storage Gold Rush - Who's Left?)

Other encouraging details related to future business prospects - deferred revenue rose 19%, and bookings increased 23%. License revenue rose 11% this period, while maintenance/subscription revenue rose about 9%. Symantec had mixed performance on profitability. Gross margin (on a GAAP basis) improved by almost two points, while operating income fell 3% on much higher sales and marketing expenses. 




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