Symantec Secures Quarter: Fool by Numbers

On Jan. 24, security software maker Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC  ) released third-quarter earnings for the period ended Dec. 29.

• Management is estimating revenues of between $1.25 billion and $1.28 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
• The long-term debt appearing on the balance sheet is in the form of convertible senior notes.
• Though the stock is recommended in our Inside Value newsletter, the Motley Fool CAPS community gives it a lowly one-star rating.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q3 2007	Q3 2006	Change
Sales	$1,313.0	$1,149.0	14.3%
Net Profit	$113.7	$90.7	25.3%
EPS	$0.12	$0.08	50.0%
Diluted Shares	963.3	1,096.6	(12.2%)

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q3 2007	Q3 2006	Change*
Gross Margin	76.0%	76.6%	(0.6)
Operating Margin	11.9%	10.4%	1.5
Net Margin	8.7%	7.9%	0.8

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q3 2007	Q3 2006	Change
Cash + ST Investments	$2,977.6	$2,839.5	4.9%
Accounts Receivable	$743.0	$697.1	6.6%
Inventory	$41.2	$36.3	13.5%

Liabilities	Q3 2007	Q3 2006	Change
Accounts Payable	$198.6	$189.6	4.8%
Long-Term Debt	$2,100.0	$0.0	N/A

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights
Management is still not helping investors -- it's not releasing a cash flow statement with earnings.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN  )
• Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT  )
• Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL  )
• Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS  )
• EMC (NYSE: EMC  )

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Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.