Microsoft Is In Talks To Acquire This Cybersecurity Company

Microsoft Corp MSFT is in talks to acquire cybersecurity research and incident response company Mandiant Inc MNDT, Bloomberg reports.

• The deal would bolster efforts to protect customers from hacks and breaches. The potential deal would give Microsoft even deeper insight into powerful hacks.
• Mandiant became a standalone entity again in 2021 when FireEye Inc sold its products business and the FireEye name, Reuters reports.
• Microsoft bought two smaller cybersecurity companies in 2021 and looks to spend $20 billion on cybersecurity over the next five years. 
• In 2021, Microsoft named former Amazon.com Inc AMZN cloud executive Charlie Bell to oversee its security efforts and had 3,500 employees working to safeguard customers “from the chip to the cloud.”
• Mandiant reported fourth-quarter FY21 sales of $133 million, up 21% year-on-year, above the consensus of $131.5 million. Adjusted EPS loss of $(0.10) beat the consensus loss of $(0.13).
• Mandiant sees Q1 sales of $128 million - $131 million below the consensus of $134.4 million. It sees adjusted EPS loss of $(0.15) - $(0.13) above the consensus loss of $(0.10).
• Mandiant sees FY22 sales of $555 million - $565 million below the consensus of $574 million. Its sees adjusted EPS loss of $(0.38) - $(0.36) above the consensus loss of $(0.32).
• Price Action: MNDT shares traded higher by 0.23% at $17.79 in the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.