Takeover interest highlights its value

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC CORP. $24 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 639.2 million; Market cap: $15.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) recently agreed to sell its Enterprise Security business to Broadcom Inc. (Nasdaq symbol AVGO) for $10.7 billion. The company would then focus on its Norton and LifeLock consumer cybersecurity businesses. However, Symantec has now reportedly received interest from a pair of private-equity firms—Permira and Advent International. They aim to buy the entire firm for more than $16 billion, but have indicated they would go ahead with the sale of the company’s enterprise business to Broadcom. They would, however, retain the consumer business. Buying a company when a major transaction like the Broadcom deal is about to close would be complicated and unusual. However, all in all, it would be good for Symantec’s shareholders. Symantec is still a buy. buy…