Cowen & Co. says "Yes"

Aug 26, 2006 10:15 GMT  ·  By

In the wake of IBM's $1.3 billion acquisition of Internet security Systems, research firm Cowen & Co. has published a report outlining Hewlett-Packard's security perspective. Security software acquisitions by Novell and EMC have also marked milestone deals in the landscape of computer security business. Cowen & Co commented upon HP's absence from the security market. "Larger systems software companies have been aggressively acquiring security software vendors and point technology," said Walter Pritchard, a Cowen analyst.

While Pritchard is considering the acquisition of McAfee or Symantec a viable possibility, Yet Momin Khan, an analyst from Technology Business Research has emitted a more reserved forecast stating that the two security heavyweights come with mammoth price tags that may post them outside HP's purchase capabilities. "They might have to go smaller," he said. "We think they're in the market to spend another billion dollars with two or three acquisitions [total] over the course of the year. It's something very hard to grow organically. Every large IT vendor has realized you can't have a traditional revenue base without security."

At the closing of the 2006 fiscal year, Symantec posted reported revenue of $4.14 billion correlated with a net income of $157 million while McAfee announced $987.3 worth of sales and a net income of $138.8 million.