Symantec Reports Record Quarter 31% Rev. Growth

News Release

Symantec Reports Record Quarter With 31 Percent Revenue Growth

Raises Fiscal Year Guidance

CUPERTINO, Calif. – January 22, 2004 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today reported results for the fiscal third quarter ended Jan. 2, 2004. Symantec posted revenue for the quarter of US$494 million, a 31 percent increase compared to $376 million for the same quarter last year, driven by solid enterprise security revenues and stronger than expected consumer results.

GAAP Results: Net income for the fiscal third quarter was $111 million, compared to $72 million for the same quarter last year. Earnings per share was $0.32, compared to earnings per share of $0.22 for the year-ago quarter.

Non-GAAP Results: Non-GAAP net income for the fiscal third quarter was $120 million, compared to $77 million for the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $0.34, compared to earnings per share of $0.24 for the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP results and related reconciliation, as outlined in the attached consolidated statements, exclude expenses from the amortization of other intangibles from acquisitions, acquired in-process research and development, and restructuring charges as well as related income tax benefits.

See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information” below.

“We closed a record number of large enterprise deals during the quarter and the consumer segment turned in a phenomenal performance,” said John W. Thompson, Symantec chairman and CEO. “Our focus on helping customers secure and manage their IT infrastructure continues to gain traction as more and more customers turn to Symantec to solve the challenge of managing their complex environments.”
Revenue Components

For the quarter, Symantec’s worldwide enterprise business, including enterprise security, enterprise administration, and services, represented 51 percent of total revenue. Symantec’s enterprise security business represented 38 percent of total revenue and grew 17 percent year-over-year; the enterprise administration business represented 11 percent of revenues and grew 2 percent compared to the same quarter last year; and the services business grew 42 percent and represented 2 percent of total revenue. Symantec’s consumer business grew 55 percent and represented 49 percent of total revenue.

International revenues represented 54 percent of total revenue in the third quarter and grew 40 percent over the same quarter last year. Canada led the increase for the quarter with 47 percent growth, followed by the Europe, Middle East and Africa region with 45 percent growth. Japan recorded 36 percent year-over-year growth, Asia Pacific recorded 24 percent growth and Latin America grew by 11 percent. The United States grew 22 percent.
Business Outlook

Forward-looking guidance for the fiscal fourth quarter ending April 2, 2004, is as follows:

- Revenue is expected to be in the range of $500 to $520 million.
- GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $0.30 at the midpoint of revenue guidance.
- Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $0.32 at the midpoint of revenue guidance.

Forward-looking guidance for the fiscal year, ending April 2, 2004, updated to reflect the fiscal year-to-date actual performance and estimated results for the fiscal fourth quarter is as follows:
- Revenue is expected to be approximately $1.82 billion.
- GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $1.03 at the stated revenue forecast, up 8 cents from our previous guidance of $0.95 per share.
- Non-GAAP earning per share is expected to be $1.14 at the stated revenue forecast, up 9 cents from previous guidance of $1.05 per share.

Non-GAAP earnings per share excludes the pre-tax amortisation of other intangibles from acquisitions, acquired in-process research and development, and other items such as patent settlement and restructuring charges of approximately $11 million and $59 million for the quarter ending April 2, 2004, and the fiscal year ending April 2, 2004.

Symantec is initiating forward-looking guidance for fiscal year 2005 ending April 1, 2005. It should be noted that the outlook does include forecasted results from our announced acquisition of ON Technology, which is expected to close in mid-February. In addition, our outlook assumes no significant changes in the current economic or competitive climates over the course of the next 15 months as compared to what we are experiencing today. Guidance is as follows:
- Revenue is estimated to be in the range of $2.15 to $2.20 billion. Symantec expects about 47 percent of the revenue to occur in the first half of the fiscal year.
- GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $1.21 at the midpoint of the stated revenue forecast.
- Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $1.31 at the midpoint of the stated revenue forecast.
- Gross margin is forecasted to average 84.7 percent for the full year.
- Operating income as a percent of revenue is estimated at 32 percent for the full year.
- Common Stock Equivalents (CSEs) are expected to grow by less than 2 percent over the next year.

Non-GAAP earnings per share excludes the pre-tax amortisation of other intangibles from acquisitions, acquired in-process research and development, and other items such as restructuring charges of approximately $45 million for the fiscal year ending April 1, 2005.

Quarterly Highlights
- Symantec signed 278 contracts worldwide worth more than $100,000 each, including 87 worth more than $300,000 and 13 worth more than $1 million each, during the quarter.
- Symantec signed new or extended agreements with customers including the U.S. Air Force; H&R Block Inc.; CIGNA Corporation, one of the largest investor-owned employee benefits organizations in the United States; Nicor Gas Company, one of the nation’s largest gas distribution companies; Graybar Electric Company Inc., the nation’s leading distributor of communications and electrical products and related supply chain management and logistics services; PNC Financial Services Group Inc.; UnumProvident Corporation, the largest provider of group and individual disability income protection insurance in the United States and United Kingdom; Spherion Corporation, a provider of recruitment, technology, and outsourcing services; Hercules Incorporated, a global manufacturer of chemical specialties used in making a variety of products for home, office, and industrial markets; Zurich Financial Services; and Development Bank of Singapore, the largest bank in Singapore.
- During the quarter, Symantec released Symantec Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) 6.0, an industry-leading policy compliance solution. With outstanding performance and scalability, Symantec ESM provides centralised, automated and comprehensive security analysis of organisations’ critical business applications and operating systems.
- Symantec announced an enhanced iForce™ Intrusion Detection (IDS) Appliance, powered by Sun and Symantec. A complete high-speed network intrusion detection appliance, the solution combines Symantec ManHunt 3.0 with Sun’s Fire V60x server and provides flexible deployment options by monitoring up to 2 gigabits per second.
- In addition, Symantec announced its client compliancy initiative designed to promote the enforcement of remote and mobile client security policies. As part of the initiative Symantec introduced its new client compliancy application program interface (API), which provides IT Administrators the ability to block access to an organisation’s network when a computer’s security level does not meet the requirements defined by the organisation’s security policies.

About Symantec
Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec’s Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 37 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please view the Symantec Press Center at http://www.symantec.com/PressCenter/ on Symantec's Web site. All prices noted are in US dollars and are valid only in the United States.

Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States and certain other countries, of Symantec Corporation. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including forecasts of future revenue and earnings per share, expected activities, and other financial and business results that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: the sustainability of recent growth rates, particularly in consumer products; the anticipation of the growth of certain market segments, particularly enterprise security; the positioning of Symantec's products in those segments; the competitive environment in the software industry; general market conditions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, changes to operating systems and product strategy by vendors of operating systems; and whether Symantec can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk Factors sections of Symantec’s previously filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Symantec assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release except as otherwise required by law.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION: In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, Symantec reports non-GAAP financial results. Non-GAAP net income and earnings per share exclude acquisition related charges, such as amortization of other intangibles and in-process research and development, and certain other identified charges, such as restructuring and patent settlement, as well as the tax effect of these items. Symantec's management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors because they provide supplemental information that facilitates comparisons to prior periods. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate its financial results, develop budgets and manage expenditures. The method Symantec uses to produce non-GAAP results is not computed according to GAAP, is likely to differ from the methods used by other companies and should not be regarded as a replacement for corresponding GAAP measures. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results, which is attached to this release and can be found on the investor relations Web site at www.symantec.com/invest/center.html.

###

SYMANTEC CORPORATION

GAAP Consolidated Statements of Operations
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
December 31, December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data; unaudited) 2003 2002 2003 2002
Net revenues $ 493,905 $ 375,635 $ 1,313,694 $ 1,016,907
Cost of revenues 87,608 65,280 229,996 181,891
Gross margin 406,297 310,355 1,083,698 835,016
Operating expenses:
Research and development 61,885 50,022 182,086 142,854
Sales and marketing 167,014 139,479 464,556 379,543
General and administrative 21,712 19,346 69,258 51,954
Amortisation of other intangibles from acquisitions 628 793 2,175 1,994
Acquired in-process research and development 1,600 -- 2,600 4,700
Restructuring, site closures and other (126) (442) 444 4,432
Patent Settlement -- -- 13,917 --

Total operating expenses 252,713 209,198 735,036 585,477
Operating income 153,584 101,157 348,662 249,539
Interest income 9,184 9,039 28,088 28,408
Interest expense (5,291) (5,292) (15,873) (15,875)
Income (expense), net, from sale of technologies
and product lines 5,215 (256) 9,541 4,424
Other income (expense), net 618 (300) 580 (1,425)
Income before income taxes 163,310 104,348 370,998 265,071
Provision for income taxes 51,834 32,616 117,308 84,776
Net income $ 111,476 $ 71,732 $ 253,690 $ 180,295
Net income per share – diluted* $ 0.32 $ 0.22 $ 0.74 $ 0.56
Shares used to compute net income
per share – diluted* 362,179 341,616 356,767 338,906

* For the three and nine months ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, diluted net income per share is calculated using the if-converted method. Under this method, the numerator excludes the interest expense from the 3% convertible subordinated notes, net of income tax, of $3.6M and $10.8M for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, respectively, and the denominator includes shares issuable from the assumed conversion of the 3% convertible subordinated notes.

SYMANTEC CORPORATION

Non-GAAP Consolidated Statements of Income
Non-GAAP amounts exclude all acquisition related amortization of intangibles, acquired IPR&D, patent settlement and restructuring charges.

Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
December 31, December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data; unaudited) 2003 2002 2003 2002
Net revenues $ 493,905 $ 375,635 $1,313,694 $ 1,016,907
Cost of revenues 77,030 57,160 200,413 160,761
Gross margin 416,875 318,475 1,113,281 856,146
Operating expenses:
Research and development 61,885 50,022 182,086 142,854
Sales and marketing 167,014 139,479 464,556 379,543
General and administrative 21,712 19,346 69,258 51,954

Total operating expenses 250,611 208,847 715,900 574,351
Operating income 166,264 109,628 397,381 281,795
Interest income 9,184 9,039 28,088 28,408
Interest expense (5,291) (5,292) (15,873) (15,875)
Income (expense), net, from sale of technologies
and product lines 5,215 (256) 9,541 4,424
Other income (expense), net 618 (300) 580 (1,425)
Income before income taxes 175,990 112,819 419,717 297,327
Provision for income taxes 56,317 36,102 134,309 95,145
Net income $ 119,673 $ 76,717 $ 285,408 $ 202,182
Net income per share – diluted* $ 0.34 $ 0.24 $ 0.83 $ 0.63
Shares used to compute net income per share – diluted* 362,179 341,616 356,767 338,906

* For the three and nine months ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, diluted net income per share is calculated using the if-converted method. Under this method, the numerator excludes the interest expense from the 3% convertible subordinated notes, net of income tax, of $3.6M and $10.8M for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, respectively, and the denominator includes shares issuable from the assumed conversion of the 3% convertible subordinated notes.

SYMANTEC CORPORATION
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Gross Margin, Operating Expenses and Consolidated Statements of Income to the GAAP Gross Margin, Operating Expenses and Consolidated Statements of Income

Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
December 31, December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data; unaudited) 2003 2002 2003 2002

Non-GAAP gross margin $ 416,875 $ 318,475 $ 1,113,281 $ 856,146

Cost of revenues:
Amortisation of other intangibles from acquisitions (10,578) (8,120) (29,583) (21,130)
GAAP gross margin $ 406,297 $ 310,355 $ 1,083,698 $ 835,016

Non-GAAP operating expenses $ 250,611 $ 208,847 $ 715,900 $ 574,351

Operating expenses:
Amortisation of other intangibles from acquisitions 628 793 2,175 1,994
Acquired in-process research and development 1,600 -- 2,600 4,700
Restructuring, site closures and other (126) (442) 444 4,432
Patent settlement -- -- 13,917 --
Total operating expenses 2,102 351 19,136 11,126
GAAP operating expenses $ 252,713 $ 209,198 $ 735,036 $ 585,477

Non-GAAP net income $ 119,673 $ 76,717 $ 285,408 $ 202,182

Cost of revenues (10,578) (8,120) (29,583) (21,130)

Operating expenses (2,102) (351) (19,136) (11,126)

Income tax benefit 4,483 3,486 17,001 10,369
GAAP net income $ 111,476 $ 71,732 $ 253,690 $ 180,295
Net income per share – diluted $ 0.32 $ 0.22 $ 0.74 $ 0.56
Shares used to compute net income
per share – diluted 362,179 341,616 356,767 338,906
SYMANTEC CORPORATION

Consolidated Balance Sheets
December 31, March 31,
(In thousands) 2003 2003
ASSETS (unaudited)

Current assets:
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments $ 2,268,558 $ 1,705,658
Trade accounts receivable, net 226,956 149,664
Inventories 14,865 5,912
Deferred income taxes 98,253 92,284
Other 50,538 34,628
Total current assets 2,659,170 1,988,146

Property, equipment and leasehold improvements, net 369,577 333,275
Deferred income taxes 2,100 7,986
Acquired product rights, net 125,223 73,125
Goodwill, net 994,743 833,449
Other, net 30,134 29,749
$ 4,180,947 $ 3,265,730

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $ 71,039 $ 67,720
Accrued compensation and benefits 94,143 90,947
Deferred revenue 868,410 589,629
Other accrued expenses 75,357 69,363
Income taxes payable 115,030 76,965
Total current liabilities 1,223,979 894,624

Convertible subordinated notes 599,993 599,998
Other long-term obligations 5,255 6,729
Commitments and contingencies
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock 3,103 1,488
Capital in excess of par value 1,536,419 1,335,028
Accumulated other comprehensive income 162,308 30,121
Retained earnings 649,890 397,742
Total stockholders’ equity 2,351,720 1,764,379
$ 4,180,947 $ 3,265,730

© Scoop Media