The global cybersecurity market is projected to grow from $219.0 billion in 2025 to $562.8 billion by 2032. That’s a compound annual growth rate of 14.4%. And it’s a key reason why this top pick occupies a dominant position within consumer cybersecurity.
Gen Digital benefits from structural tailwinds including rising awareness of data breach risks, increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, regulatory pressure for data protection, and AI-powered threat evolution. Its subscription-based business model generates substantial recurring revenue with low incremental costs, translating to exceptional earnings conversion.
Meanwhile the stock trades at only 10.3 times forward earnings. That’s an exceptionally attractive valuation multiple for a business growing revenue at 30%+ with expanding profit generation and an expanding addressable market opportunity. It’s why we feel this company is a long-term pick with exceptional upside for years to come.
Gen Digital (Symbol GEN on Nasdaq; www.gendigital.com) is the new name of NortonLifeLock.
The name change came in 2022 following the company’s September acquisition of European cybersecurity firm Avast plc for $8.1 billion. Avast was then headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, but its shares traded on the London Stock Exchange. The firm focused on its premium security software for consumers, including desktop, server and mobile-device protection.
Gen Digital now acts as the parent company for several security-related brands including Norton, LifeLock, and Avast. That’s in addition to its brands Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender, and CCleaner—all of which were obtained through earlier acquisitions.
Today, the company is headquartered in both Tempe, Arizona, and Prague. Its stated purpose is to “power Digital Freedom for people everywhere.”
Overall, Gen Digital now gets about 69% of its revenue from consumer security solutions such as Norton 360 Security, Avast Security offerings, Norton Secure VPN, Avira Security and other consumer-focused security services. The remaining 31% of revenues comes mostly from identity and information protection software, primarily sold under the Norton 360 with LifeLock, and LifeLock brands.
Approximately 66% of Gen Digital’s revenue is from the Americas, 24% from Europe and 10% from the Asia-Pacific region.
Gen Digital’s revenue has increased steadily since taking its current form in 2019. Revenue climbed 12.2%, from $2.49 billion in 2019 to $2.80 billion in 2022 In 2023, revenue climbed a further 19.4%, to $3.34 billion. Revenue then rose 14.2% in 2024 to $3.81 billion. In 2025 (fiscal year end March 31) revenue climbed a further 3.2%, to $3.94 billion.
The company’s earnings growth has been faster. That reflects its steady introduction of higher-profit-margin products and services as it added to its operations. Specifically, earnings rose 79.5%, from $576.0 million, or $0.90 a share, in 2019 to $1.03 billion, or $1.75 a share, in fiscal 2022. In 2023, earnings climbed 8.8%, to $1.21 billion, or $1.81 a share, before rising another 12.5% in 2024 to $1.26 billion, or $1.96 a share. In 2025 (fiscal years end March 31), earnings rose a further 10.0%, to $1.39 billion, or $2.22 a share.
Gen Digital’s MoneyLion offers an exciting new growth area
In April 2025, the company paid $970 million for MoneyLion, a leading digital platform for consumers looking to make better-informed financial decisions. MoneyLion’s personal finance offerings include credit building and financial management services.
While big acquisitions like this add risk, MoneyLion’s 18 million-plus customers will broaden and diversify Gen’s customer base and let it cross-sell to its existing customers.
Through Gen Digital’s acquisition of the firm, it also gets an AI platform that can be used and enhanced by its existing customers for their individual needs.
Thanks to the MoneyLion purchase, Gen’s overall revenue in its fiscal 2026 first quarter, ended July 4, 2025, jumped 30.3%, to $1.26 billion from $965 million a year earlier. As well, the number of paid customers rose 15.1% to 76.2 million.
Excluding one-time items, earnings rose 18.8%, to $398 million from $335 million. Per-share earnings climbed 20.8%, to $0.64 from $0.53, on fewer shares outstanding.
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Gen also continues to spend a high 9% of its revenue on research. That’s letting it develop new AI products to spur its long-term growth.
For example, the company’s Norton unit has developed an AI-powered mobile application and web-based service. Called Genie, it provides a way for consumers to check if texts, emails, websites and social media posts are a scam.
Genie draws from Norton’s continually updated databases and experiences to uncover scams and deal with phishing attacks and unsafe websites. AI-based systems like Genie use machine learning algorithms to detect and respond to both known and previously unidentified malware threats. These algorithms have the capability to analyze vast volumes of data, enabling them to identify intricate patterns and anomalies that might be challenging for humans to spot.
The new product was initially only available in a limited number of markets, but Gen Digital has now released it globally. The company has also partnered with actor and content creator Dan Levy to promote Genie through multiple social media channels on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram
All in all, Gen Digital lets investors directly tap rapidly growing consumer demand for protection from malware, phishing attacks, and identity theft. Its suite of complementary offerings also helps the company drive subscription growth—and retain subscribers— through bundling deals. AI initiatives are also adding to the competitiveness of Gen Digital’s products.
In addition, the company’s MoneyLion acquisition deepens its growth prospects to include rising demand for digital banking, consumer lending, and other personal finance products.
In fiscal 2026, Gen will probably earn $2.54 a share, and the stock trades at an attractive 10.3 times that forecast. The $0.50 dividend yields 1.9%.
Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: Gen Digital Inc. is a buy.
