In late September, Dave DeWalt, CEO of McAfee (NYSE: MFE), wrote an interesting post on his blog. During his trip to China, he visited his company's R&D center in Shenzhen, which is developing security products for mobile devices. After all, China ships 200 million mobile devices each year. According to DeWalt, there is certainly lots of opportunity in "protecting [companies] from the bad guys -- all over the world."
It also means that McAfee keeps posting record revenue growth. In fact, in this week's third-quarter report, the company posted its 11th consecutive record, as revenue increased 12% to $322 million. Net income was $63 million, or $0.38 per share, and operating cash flow was $119 million, up 50% over the past year. McAfee continues to show traction with large customers, with 22 deals for more than $500,000 and eight deals for more than $1 million.
Meanwhile, McAfee is seeing strength in its consumer business, despite tough competition from Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC). The company has a unique offering, called the "Triple Play," that provides security for the PC, the Web, and mobile devices. Interestingly enough, McAfee's Web protection system, called SiteAdvisor, has notched more than 90 million downloads.
However, there were some weak spots at McAfee. For example, North American revenue grew a meager 2% to $165 million. But I think the Triple Play offering should help boost things and grab market share.
What's more, McAfee recently agreed to acquire SafeBoot. The company -- which has customers like GE (NYSE: GE) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) -- develops software to secure laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices. With a footprint of more than 100 million desktops, this is a big cross-selling opportunity for McAfee. In fact, SafeBoot is already growing at about 60% per year and has a key alliance with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).
All in all, it looks like McAfee is putting together a good story. The company is launching innovative products, produces lots of cash flow, is getting larger enterprise deals, and has made a savvy acquisition. More importantly, the need for security is likely to continue to grow, especially overseas. And so I have a feeling we'll be seeing more DeWalt blog posts from Asia.
For more Foolishness:
"The most exciting development in my lifetime!" 15 years ago, Motley Fool founder David Gardner uncovered a secret that changed how he'd invest forever. It can make you money in up, down, and rollercoaster markets. To learn more, enter your email address now.
Terms & Conditions
RSS Headlines
Fool UK