Topic: Growth Stocks

The Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, May 9, 2008

Article Excerpt

SYMANTEC, $19.99, symbol SYMC on Nasdaq, rose this week after it reported that earnings excluding one-time items rose 36.4% in the three months ended March 28, 2008, to $309.4 million from $226.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 50%, to $0.36 from $0.24, on 8.2% fewer shares outstanding. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, revenues rose 14.0% to $1.55 billion from $1.36 billion. In the latest quarter, earnings gained from strong sales in Europe (up 17.3%) and Asia (up 18.7%). International sales (52.5% of revenues) rose 15.2%. U.S. sales (47.5% of revenues) rose 11.5%, despite difficult economic conditions. Symantec’s consumer business, which represents 29% of the company’s total revenues, grew 9.9%. Revenues from Symantec’s services business (6.2% of revenues) grew 11.8%. Security and data management sales (28.4% of revenues) grew 21.5%, and storage and server management sales (36.4% of revenues) rose 10.6%. In April 2008, Symantec acquired privately held AppStream (software distribution) for an undisclosed sum. The company may make further…