Symantec Corp. on Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings of $0.78 per share, well above the $0.64 per share that analysts had expected.
The Cupertino, Calif., security company also reported gross revenue of $290.2 million for the quarter, a 20 percent increase over the $241.8 million for the same period a year ago.
Those numbers, however, are before a one-time charge related to the acquisition of Axent Technologies, which brings the earnings per share down to break-even.
Much of the revenue growth came from increased sales of the companys anti-virus and intrusion-detection products, which grew 53 percent and 39 percent respectively. The company also enjoyed a strong showing in the enterprise security market, which produced 60 percent of its third-quarter revenue.
In product news, Symantec officials said the forthcoming integrated gateway security appliance, code-named Fenway, has completed a beta test and is on track for general availability later this quarter. The appliance will combine firewall, VPN, IDS, anti-virus and content filtering functions.
The company also is nearing completion of its new security management system, which will be entering a beta period soon.
Symantec also said that its stock will split two-for-one on Jan. 31.