McAfee profit tops Wall Street, plans acquisition

BOSTON (Reuters) - McAfee Inc (MFE.N), the No. 2 security software maker, reported a better-than-expected profit on Thursday and said it planned to buy a privately held company for $46 million in cash.

Santa Clara, California-based McAfee announced the acquisition of Reconnex, a firm based in nearby Mountain View that sells specialized appliance computers loaded with software to help companies identify and secure confidential data.

McAfee reported a second-quarter net income of $47.8 million, or 30 cents a share, versus $48.0 million, or 29 cents a share a year ago when it had more shares outstanding.

Quarterly revenue rose 26 percent to $397 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $369 million.

McAfee had second-quarter profit excluding special items of 52 cents a share, above the 45 cent average target of analysts, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company forecast a third-quarter profit per share excluding special items of 46 to 50 cents on revenue of $390 million to $400 million.

Analysts had been expecting McAfee to post third-quarter profit of 48 cents on revenue of $373 million.

McAfee also raised its full-year profit forecast, saying it expects 2008 profit excluding items of $1.90 to $2.00 per share on revenue of $1.535 billion to $1.585 billion.

It had previously forecast full-year profit of $1.85 to $1.95 per share on revenue of $1.435 billion to $1.535 billion.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Braden Reddall)