Symantec stock drops 12%, earnings include weaker-than-expected outlook

Symantec Corp. stock plummeted in the extended session Thursday after the cybersecurity company’s outlook fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Symantec SYMC, +2.20%  shares fell more than 12% after hours, following a 2.2% rise to close the regular session at $20.88. Symantec shares closed Thursday down 26% for the year, compared with a 5.8% gain on the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.49%  and a 13% rise in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.24%

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company estimates adjusted earnings of 31 cents to 35 cents a share on revenue of $1.13 billion to $1.16 billion for the fiscal second quarter, and $1.47 to $1.57 a share on revenue of $4.67 billion to $4.79 billion for the year.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $1.19 billion for the second quarter, and $1.56 a share on revenue of $4.83 billion for the year.

Symantec reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $63 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a loss of $133 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 34 cents a share.

Revenue fell to $1.16 billion from $1.18 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts had estimated 33 cents a share on revenue of $1.15 billion. Estimize, a software platform that uses crowdsourcing from hedge-fund executives, brokerages, buy-side analysts and others had forecast earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $1.17 billion.

“Following a successful fiscal year 2018 in our Enterprise Security segment, first quarter fiscal year 2019 enterprise implied billings were below expectations due to longer than expected sales cycles for large, multi-product platform sales,” Chief Executive Greg Clark said in a statement.

On an adjusted basis, enterprise security revenue fell 16% to $565 million, while analysts expected $545.6 million. Consumer digital safety revenue rose 7% to $600 million, while analysts expected $605 million.

Symantec reported adjusted implied billing of $996 million for the first quarter, while analysts were looking for $1.1 billion, according to FactSet. Implied enterprise security billings were $453 million, down from $656 million in the year-ago period.