NortonLifeLock sees second straight quarter of double-digit growth

Antivirus vendor NortonLifeLock celebrated its second straight quarter of growth in excess of 10% for revenues, net income, and bookings. 

Norton's revenues for the third quarter of FY 2022, which ended December 31, 2021, was  $702 million, a 10% jump over the $639 million posted for the year-ago quarter. 

Net income grew even more steeply, rising 16% to reach $202 million, or $0.34 per share, compared to the $178 million, or $0.30 per share posted for the third quarter of FY 2021.

Both figures were spurred on by $752 million in new books, which represented a 10% rise and pushed the company's direct customer count up by 2.4 million to 23.4 million total customers. This represents the ninth consecutive quarter of customer growth for the company, as well. 

Vincent Pilette, CEO of NortonLifeLock, noted that, as the company's planned merger with Avast approaches, these results reinforce the idea that “people, more than ever before, need a partner to help them safely lead their digital lives.” The CEO went on to say that the Avast merger will help NortonLifeLock to “get started on accelerating our pace of innovation and expanding our global reach.” 

Speaking of acceleration, NorthLifeLock noted that it believes it will close the Avast merger earlier than its original mid-year window. The new targeted closing date is now February 24, 2022. It expects to formally confirm this in a separate announcement — if the timeline does not change.

The Q3 financials resulted in the security company honing its FY 2022 guidance to include an expected annual revenue figure of between $2.79 billion and $2.80 billion, which would represent another 10% year-over-year growth milestone for the entire fiscal year, right at the top of the previously forecasted range. 

NortonLifeLock also predicted earnings per share for FY 2022 will reach $1.73 to $1.75, once again narrowing and moving its guidance towards the high side of its previously-announced $1.65 to $1.75.