Broadcom is in Advanced Discussions to Acquire Symantec

Shares of security software maker Symantec were in a frenzy on Tuesday as Wall Street learned that Broadcom is in talks to acquire the company.

A report by Bloomberg about these talks sent shares of Symantec flying in after-hours trading with gains of over 20%.
Prior to the report, the company had lost about a third of its value in shares in two years.

It was this past May that Symantec’s CEO Greg Clark had stepped down, saying he wanted to spend more time with his aging father. His departure came after the company missed revenue estimates for the fourth quarter.

Richard Hill, the company’s director, is now interim president and CEO.

According to Symantec’s annual report, it is the world’s biggest maker of cybersecurity software, providing products and services to more than 350,000 organizations and 50 million people.

It was earlier in the week that Morgan Stanley analyst Craig Hettenbach wrote, “Broadcom’s approach to M&A is to deliver high cash on cash returns, which it has been quite successful in achieving. In semiconductors, the company was early and led the wave of consolidation seen across the industry. However, with many assets already off the board and remaining companies trading at high valuation multiples, the opportunity set in semis is much lower today.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.