Symantec, Trend Micro Report Strong Quarters

Trend Micro, whose earnings reflect Q3 2004, posted consolidated net sales of $143 million for the quarter, a 28 percent year-over-year increase; and operating income of $38 million. Net sales from enterprise products grew and comprised 78 percent of quarterly revenue, while consumer products accounted for 22 percent of revenue. Net sales of enterprise products grew 36 percent year-over-year and net sales of consumer products grew 38 percent in the same period.

Trend Micro CEO Steve Chang credited one product in particular with helping the company's numbers.

''This quarter, Trend Micro continued growing its revenue -- in particular, we experienced almost 100 percent growth for our Network VirusWall appliance, which was released earlier this year,'' he says. ''We also received industry recognition that provides valuable third-party endorsement of our brand strength and leadership position in the marketplace."

The company is projecting consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter to be $144 million. Operating income and net income are expected to be $55 million and $33 million, respectively. During the quarter, VARBusiness recognized Trend Micro's security solutions for product innovation in its annual Annual Report Card survey, and at the VARVision System Builder Summit event in September the company received awards for best software product and best channel strategy.

Symantec, whose earnings reflect Q2 2005, posted revenue for the quarter of $618 million, a 44 percent increase compared with $429 million for the same quarter last year. Net income for the fiscal second quarter was $136 million, up from $83 million for the same quarter last year. The company also announced a two-for-one stock split and increased the dollar amount of the company's authorized stock repurchase program from $940 million to $1.24 billion. The company had previously announced a repurchase plan under Rule 10b5-1 to facilitate such purchases. Symantec expects to purchase approximately $60 million per quarter under this plan through March 2006.

"We've had great execution in all business segments and geographies," says Symantec CEO John Thomspon. But he warned that factors including a worsening threat environment and erratic pricing will keep the security market unpredictable in the near term. "The threats are continuing to grow, not slow down, which is a major driver for our revenue," Thompson says. "The pricing environment is very undisciplined and unstable in our view and is not sustainable. We will continue to monitor it with an eye toward value, not price."

The company is projecting revenue for the coming quarter to come in between $645 million and $665 million and is raising its forward-looking guidance for fiscal year 2005 to $2.495 billion, an increase of $90 million from prior guidance.