Symantec Reports Earnings Increase

The security vendor posted fourth-quarter revenue of $556 million, up 43 percent from $390 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue for fiscal 2004 came in at $1.87 billion, a 33 percent increase over fiscal 2003 revenue of $1.41 billion.

The Cupertino, Calif., company reported net income of $117 million for the fourth quarter, up from $68 million a year earlier. Fourth-quarter earnings per share came in at 33 cents, beating fourth-quarter 2003 earnings by 12 cents per share.

Driving the increased earnings were efforts within the enterprise security and antivirus markets, the company said. During the fourth quarter, Symantec's enterprise business, which includes enterprise security, enterprise administration, and services, equaled 52 percent of the company's total revenue, and grew 29 percent year-over-year.

"We are encouraged by the building momentum in the enterprise segment and, once again, the consumer segment turned in a stellar performance," John Thompson, chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

The healthy earnings motivated Symantec to boost its future earnings expectations. The company raised forward-looking guidance for revenue in the current quarter to between $525 million and $555 million, an increase of $40 million from prior guidance.

During the fourth quarter, Symantec inked 264 contracts worth more than $100,000 each, including 70 contracts worth more than $300,000 and 11 contracts worth more than $1 million each, the company said.