Symantec shares hit near 3-year high on outlook

(Reuters) - Shares of Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) rose more than 5 percent to a near three-year high on robust quarterly results and analysts said they expect strength in the world's No. 1 security software maker's data storage business to continue.

On Wednesday, Symantec, whose Norton Internet Security suite is among the most popular software available for computers, posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its earnings forecast.

"The storage business posted decent growth of 8 percent for the first time in over two years and we expect this improved performance going forward," J.P. Morgan Securities analyst John DiFucci said in a note to clients.

However, FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives cautioned that while Symantec's focus on its core business and better-than-expected performance from its acquisitions helped, consistency in execution and near-term profitability profile would be the key.

Last May, Symantec bought VeriSign's (VRSN.O) technology for securing payments over the internet, in a deal worth about $1.28 billion.

Symantec's shares are currently trading up nearly a third in value since it announced the Verisign acquisition.

Robust performance of the Veritas storage unit, which was bought in 2005, and the rising stock trend have stymied pressure from investors to hive off the storage unit from its security division.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Kash Rangan said there was a low probability of a potential break-up of the two divisions.

Shares of Symantec were trading up 4.5 percent at $20.28 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $20.45 earlier in the session.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel, Prem Udayabhanu)