Symantec Corporation
(
SYMC
) upped its acquisition count with the recent takeover of
privately-held Nukona Inc., a provider of mobile application
management (MAM) services. The financial terms of the acquisition
were not disclosed.
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 in protecting and isolating
corporate data and applications across corporate and personal
devices. Symantec expects to close this transaction in April and is
subject to customary closing conditions.
Earlier this month, Symantec had acquired Odyssey Software, a
leading provider of mobile device management (
MDM
). The acquisitions have allowed Symantec to help customers better
manage and enforce IT policies, identify and protect against
threats, as well as repair and service assets. We believe
acquisitions will help the company to increase its scale of
operations, acquire more customers and enhance its technological
expertise.
Apart from acquisitions, the company has also adopted other
means for growth. This includes wooing other customers by offering
new services. This strategy helped the company in winning new
orders for its Internet mobile security solutions. This fact is
further emphasized by Samsung Electronics's selection of Symantec's
flagship product, Norton Mobile Security, for a 90-day
complimentary subscription on its Galaxy smartphones.
The Internet security market is growing steadily and offers
incremental growth opportunities. We expect the network security
market to return to the pre-recession growth levels going forward.
The global network security market, described as hardware and
software with functionality, which includes segments such as
firewalls, VPNs, intrusion prevention and detection, and
multi-purpose security known as unified threat management, are
expected to generate higher revenues in the coming years and the
company is well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.
Symantec delivered modest third quarter 2012 results with both
the top and bottom line surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimates.
Geographical and segmental performances were good, barring the EMEA
and Service segment.
The company had considerable cash in the quarter with its
continuous share buyback program. Fourth quarter guidance was
sequentially weak, which could be due to soft performance of its
Consumer segment (due to lackluster PC sales) and stiff competition
from McAfee (which has been acquired by
Intel Corp.
(
INTC
).
Good news on Symantec's part was that research firm Gartner
expects the worldwide spending on security software to rise 10%
this year to $20.7 billion.
The company has a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short term Hold
rating.
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