Low p/e cuts Symantec’s risk

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $19 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 618.2 million; Market cap: $11.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) sells computer-security technology, including antivirus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. Symantec expects revenue of between $4.76 billion and $4.90 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020. However, the midpoint of that range—$4.83 billion—is below the consensus forecast of $4.97 billion due to weaker spending by business clients. Its likely earnings for the year—$1.73 a share—also misses the consensus estimate of $1.77. However, the stock trades at just 11.0 times the 2020 earnings forecast. That’s a particularly low p/e considering the company continues to spend a high 19% of its revenue on research. Symantec is still a buy. buy…