It's been a generally quiet earnings pre-announcement season this year, but McAfee [MFE] dropped a bomb on its shareholders after the close today.
- Revenues of $254mm versus consensus estimate of $275mm
- EPS of $0.27-$0.29 versus consensus estimate of $0.38
- Bookings were a mixed bag with SMB continuing to struggle [2% YOY growth], modest re-acceleration on the consumer front [25% YOY] and low double-digit growth in enterprise [11% YOY]
Clearly the anti-virus market is paying the price of the tremendous growth it enjoyed unabated in recent years. Obviously there will be more granularity from MFE when the company reports full Q4 results two weeks from now. Shares were trading down more than 14% in the after-market, which is not only a reflection of the magnitude of the miss, but also the lateness of the pre-announcement. Entering the 4th week in January, most investors had assumed we were all finished with December Q pre-announcements, so this miss likely hurt more than most.
Just two weeks ago McAfee President Gene Hodges announced he was leaving to take the CEO position at Websense [WBSN], impeccable timing on his part, wouldn't you agree?
Note: At the time of this writing I and/or funds I maintain discretionary control over did not maintain a long or short equity position in any of the companies mentioned.
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