Symantec's Promising Outlook

Software titan Symantec is forecasting higher profits and sales in its future.It has a steady chart and steadily improving revenues,points out Joel Fishbein,a senior analyst and managing director at Lazard Capital Markets.
The growth of Symantec's deferred revenues has been impressive.Quarter after quarter,more are signing up for its services.That suggests more success in coming quarters.
Mr.Fishbein has a buy rating on Symantec.The company has done a phenomenal job of focusing on the right areas.It has the most comprehensive portfolio of security technologies.
As a big enterprise services firm,one weakness it has is in the consumer market.Symantec will be focusing on the mobile market to address that.It's really hard to develop security on all of the platforms,so the company buys acquisitions that are growing faster than Symantec itself,Mr.Fishbein observed.
Symantec was founded by Gary Hendrix in 1982.A multinational corporation based in Mountain View,California,the company's Norton antivirus and data management products generate much of its revenue.
FBR Capital Markets,a prominent investment bank and asset manager,has upgraded Symantec's rating to outperform from market perform.
Symantec(SYMC)

Shop Talk

I have readers in Sunnyvale and Mountain View,California.Southern Cal won its third straight Rose Bowl yesterday,to the chagrin of Penn State fans.The markets back East are still being cheerful,but the volume is light,so we cannot be quite sure about this.There is a consensus that the markets will recover in the second half of 2009,yet enough caution in the wind to give us pause.Everyone has been wrong before,and we are in the worst financial crisis in more than a generation,so a prolonged downturn would seem more than reasonable.It is also more than reasonable,then,to keep the portfolio defensive for the foreseeable future.Yes,you could miss some of the upswing,but once it occurs,there will be plenty of it to get in on.Have a safe drive home,if you aren't there already.