SYMANTEC CORP. $24.50 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 690.5 million; Market cap: $16.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%) is one of two companies that Home Depot (New York symbol HD) has hired to help investigate its recently discovered data breach.
Stolen Home Depot credit card numbers have turned up for sale on a website called Rescator.cc, which has been linked to a Ukrainian dealer in stolen credit cards.
It’s not yet clear how many customers were affected, but the total could exceed 60 million in Canada and the U.S. Customers at Home Depot’s Mexico stores were not affected, nor were online shoppers at HomeDepot.com. Personal identification numbers (PINs) for debit cards were not taken.
Symantec has been trying to expand in the rapidly growing cyber-security software/services market, and the Home Depot contract will give it a lot of industry credibility.
Symantec is a buy.