Symantec shares hit near 3-year high on outlook

Symantec Corp's (SYMC.O) strong quarterly results and continuing strength at its data storage business prompted five brokerages to raise their price targets on the security software maker.

The company's shares rose 4 percent to a near three-year high of $20.23 in early trade on Thursday on Nasdaq.

On Wednesday, the Mountain View, California-based company, whose Norton internet security suite is among the most popular software available for computers, posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its earnings forecast. [ID:N11224981]

"The storage business posted decent growth of 8 percent for the first time in over two years and we expect this improved performance going forward," J.P. Morgan Securities analyst John DiFucci said in a note to clients.

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However, FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said that while Symantec's focus on its core business and better-than-expected performance from its acquisitions helped, consistency would be the key going forward.

"Although we applaud Symantec for producing a good quarter/guidance, ... it all comes down to consistent execution with this story, which, coupled with the company's near-term profitability profile, remains Symantec's Achilles heel," Ives said.

Last May, Symantec bought VeriSign's (VRSN.O) technology for securing payments over the internet, in a deal worth about $1.28 billion. [ID:nN21274006] For all the revisions, please see below. Brokerage New price target Old price target New rating Old rating BofA Merrill Lynch $22 $18 Neutral Underperform Citigroup $24 $22 Buy Buy JP Morgan $26 $24 Overweight Overweight FBR Capital Markets $21 $18 Market perform Market perform Barclay's $22 $19 Equal-weight Equal-weight

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

((abhiram.nandakumar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: abhiram.nandakumar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SYMANTEC RESEARCH/

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May 12 (Reuters) - Symantec Corp's (SYMC.O) strong quarterly results and continuing strength at its data storage business prompted five brokerages to raise their price targets on the security software maker.

The company's shares rose 4 percent to a near three-year high of $20.23 in early trade on Thursday on Nasdaq.

On Wednesday, the Mountain View, California-based company, whose Norton internet security suite is among the most popular software available for computers, posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its earnings forecast. [ID:N11224981]