Good fit for Symantec

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $15.07 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; SI Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 798.9 million; Market cap: $12.0 billion; No dividends paid) is buying the identity and authentication operations of VeriSign Inc. for $1.3 billion. This business makes Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software certificates, which web site operators use to cut down on fraud and identity theft. Over 2.3 million web sites use VeriSign’s certificates, which makes it the leader in this market. Symantec sees VeriSign’s technology as a good fit with its existing data-security products. As well, demand for these products should continue to rise as more businesses shift to a cloud-computing model. That’s where data and software are kept on one or more centralized computer networks. Symantec is a buy. buy…