Thoma Bravo Expressed Interest In Buying Symantec, Cybersecurity Stocks Move Higher

Shares of American software company Symantec Corp. SYMC were surging nearly 14 percent Tuesday on M&A talk.

What Happened

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has expressed interest in acquiring Symantec, according to Reuters, which cited unnanmed sources. 

In September, Symantec settled with hedge fund Starboard Value, which led to the addition of three new board members, CNBC said.

Bain Capital and Silver Lake are existing investors in Symantec. Additionally, the company recently announced the acquisition of Javelin Networks and Appthority, a company that offers mobile application security analysis.

Why It’s Important

Symantec reported strong second-quarter earnings last week, beating estimates across the board. The company posted earnings of 42 cents per share against a 33-cents-per-share estimate. The company raised guidance for Q3 and said it expects sales in the coming quarter to fall between $1.16 billion and $1.19 billion.

What’s Next

Several cybersecurity-related stocks were moving Tuesday on the Symantec report: 

• FireEye Inc. FEYE was up 2.62 percent to $19.16 at the time of publication. 
• Cyberark Software Ltd. CYBR was 0.30 percent higher at $67.67. 
• Fortinet Inc. FTNT was up 0.56 percent at $75.29. 
• Imperva Inc. IMPV was near-flat at $55.69.  
• Proofpoint Inc. PFPT was 0.8 percent higher at $91.92. 

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