McAfee, Symantec Ride Security Wave

McAfee and Symantec posted results after the close on Thursday that showed that demand for security remains strong.

McAfee reported pro forma earnings of 31 cents a share, 6 cents ahead of estimates, and sales rose 32% to $245.4 million, also well above forecasts.

Shares of McAfee climbed 2% after hours on top of a 2.6% gain during the day.

Symantec reported earnings of 27 cents a share, up from 16 cents in the year-ago quarter and in line with forecasts. Revenues rose 27% to $700 million, but that was slightly below analysts’ estimates.

Symantec also reported results from storage software maker Veritas, which the company acquired July 2. Veritas’ sales rose 9% to $529 million. The results were not included in Symantec’s numbers because the merger closed after the quarter ended. Investors and analysts have fretted about Symantec acquiring the slower-growing Veritas, but Symantec CEO John Thompson remained upbeat.

“Symantec’s success in the quarter was paralleled by equally strong performance by Veritas,” Thompson said in a statement. “Our results demonstrate the team’s success in balancing merger-related activities with a continued focus on execution.”

Symantec shares lost 3% after hours.

The broader market rose on strong earnings reports from the likes of Starbucks and optimism ahead of Friday’s second-quarter GDP report. Economists anticipate that the economy grew at a 3.5% clip in the quarter and that inflation was modest at 2.6%.

The Nasdaq rose 12 to 2198, the S&P climbed 7 to 1243, and the Dow rose 68 to 10,705. Volume rose to 2.04 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.74 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 24-8 on the NYSE, and 19-11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 72% on the NYSE, and 61% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 417-38 on the NYSE, and 227-19 on the Nasdaq.

CA fell 7% on in-line results and layoffs.

Iron Mountain surged 12% on strong results, and Digital River jumped 14% after beating estimates.

LSI and AMCC fell on their results.