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Symantec ( SYMC ) stock rallied late Thursday after the cybersecurity firm reported fiscal-third-quarter sales and earnings that topped Wall Street views, while also announcing a that it will get a $500 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake Management. In after-hours trading, Symantec stock jumped more than 9%, trading near 21 after closing down a fraction during regular-session trading. Shares were down 8.7% for the year as of Thursday’s closing bell. For its fiscal 2016 third quarter, ended Jan. 1, Symantec reported $909 million in sales and 26 earnings per share ex items, beating the consensus of 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $905.8 million and 24 cents. During Q2, enterprise security revenue grew for the third consecutive quarter, CFO Thomas Seifert said in a statement. Current-quarter guidance for $885 million to $915 million in sales and 24-27 cents EPS ex items met the consensus model for $901.7 million and 25 cents. The Silver Lake investment boosts Symantec’s capital return program to $5.5 billion. Through the program, Symantec plans to return all after-tax cash proceeds of its Veritas sale to shareholders by March 2017. Veritas, Symantec’s former data storage unit, sold to the Carlyle Group on Jan. 29 for a lowered purchase price of $7.4 billion. After-tax cash proceeds came out to $5.3 billion, according to Symantec. Symantec CEO Michael Brown said the company is undergoing a transformation. Analysts have suggested Symantec could mount an M&A attack to beef up against newer next-generation software offerings. “Silver Lake’s investment in Symantec validates the significant progress we’ve made in our transformation and is a tremendous vote of confidence in the company,” he said in a statement. Scalper1 News
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