January 9, 2003

News Factor: Concerns Mount over Symantec

My spin: This is new to me, but very, very interesting...

Symantec has focused heavily on its enterprise business since the 1999 arrival of CEO John Thompson. Although that market is promising, Symantec may not stand up to specialized competitors in the sector, such as Check Point, Internet Security Systems and Cisco.

On paper, Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) appears to be one of the hottest tech companies around. Propelled in part by users' need to defend against a rash of destructive and well-publicized computer worms like Code Red, Nimda and SirCam, its stock price has jumped 70 percent in the past year. Nonetheless, leading industry experts seem to be far from enamored with the company. Some stock analysts have even responded by placing sell or hold ratings on Symantec, while others question the company's ability to compete successfully in some of its most important markets. Another leading analyst stated that Symantec may have recently squandered nearly a billion dollars on the acquisition of a related company whose technology is a "non-factor" in today's market. In Part I of this investigative report series, NewsFactor goes beyond the headlines to find out what industry insiders really think of Symantec, and why so many are concerned about its future. (full story)

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