Consistent with its strategy of expanding further,
Symantec Corp.
(
SYMC
) recently announced its plans to make a tender offer to purchase
all of the outstanding shares of common stock and stock rights of
the renowned publicly traded company VeriSign Japan KK.
The company is expected to launch its tender offer on May 28,
2012 and expects to close the same by July 6, 2012, keeping the
option of extending the same. On the successful completion of the
deal, VeriSign Japan stakeholders will receive ¥44,000 (around
$556.00 USD) for each share of the company. The offer is subject to
the approval of a special panel appointed by the board of directors
of VeriSign.
This proposed deal is the first step toward Symantec's
acquisition of Verisign in its entirety, as the former already
holds a 54.0% stake in VeriSign. This acquisition is expected to
create a win-win situation for both the companies as this will
ultimately benefit customers, partners and shareholders by driving
growth for User Authentication solutions in Japan and expanding SSL
authentication services to offer companies comprehensive Website
Security Solutions.
Symantec has always been active on the acquisition front. One of
the most recent takeover acquisitions was that of privately-held
Nukona Inc., a provider of mobile application management (MAM)
services. This is an important acquisition for the information
technology (IT) security major, as it will likely enhance
Symantec's enterprise mobility portfolio. With Nukona's
capabilities, Symantec will be able to deliver mobile application
security solutions that can run on different platforms.
With this enhancement in its enterprise mobility portfolio,
Symantec will aid IT organizations to protect and isolate corporate
data and applications across corporate and personal devices.
Although the Internet security market is growing steadily and
offers incremental growth opportunities, smaller companies like
Kaspersky and Quick Heal that have resorted to aggressive pricing
to sell their innovations are a huge challenge to the
company.
In our view, Symantec has delivered a modest fourth quarter with
the bottom line surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Geographical and segmental performances were impressive, barring
the EMEA and Service segments.
However, uncertainty over PC sales may affect its business in
the upcoming quarters. Moreover, cautious tech spending by
different government and private organizations, stiff competition
from McAfee (acquired by
Intel Corp
. [
INTC
]) as well as the prevailing economic turmoil in Europe will likely
dampen the company's business prospects this year.
The company has a Zacks #5 Rank, implying a short term Strong
Sell rating.
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