Security: Symantec Posts Dour Outlook

Shares of the security company fell nearly 9 percent after company’s warning.
By Priya Ganapati
November 1, 2005

Stung by slowing growth in both consumer and enterprise anti-virus segments and costs related to its Veritas merger, Symantec on Tuesday said it lost $251 million in its second quarter and warned it will miss Wall Street expectations for the current quarter.

The net loss equaled $0.21 per share. In the year-ago quarter, the security software maker had a net income of $135 million, or $0.19 per share. The loss was mainly due to a $284-million write-off expense and other costs related to its recent acquisition of Veritas.

Some analysts are also concerned about the potential impact of competing security products from Microsoft.

“Growth in the consumer segment could turn sharply negative as Microsoft enters the space,” said Richard Williams, an analyst with Garban Institutional Equities, a brokerage firm based in New Jersey. “It could take away a significant chunk of the business from the big three security companies of today.”

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