Security software maker Symantec (SYMC), which is preparing to split into two companies, late Thursday reported fiscal Q4 revenue and earnings that slightly missed analyst expectations, as did its outlook for the current quarter. Symantec reported earnings per share excluding items of 43 cents for the quarter ended April 3, down 10% from the year-earlier quarter. Non-GAAP revenue fell 6% to $1.55 billion, while overall revenue fell 7% to $1.52
Facebook (FB) is by far the dominant platform on smartphones in terms of time spent, causing a JPMorgan analyst to reiterate his outperform rating and price target of 100. In terms of minutes spent on smartphones, excluding Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook’s core services accounted for 24% of smartphone user activity, excluding tablets, wrote JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth, who cited comScore (SCOR) data. That’s up from 22% in March
Teradyne (TER), a top supplier of automatic test equipment used to test semiconductors and electronics, plans to expand into robotic manufacturing with its purchase of privately held Universal Robots of Denmark. Teradyne on Wednesday announced that it will pay $285 million in cash for the Danish company, which makes collaborative robots that typically work alongside production workers in the manufacturing process. The owners of Universal Robots are eligible to receive an additional $65 million if certain performance goals are met through 2018. Universal Robots says it’s been profitable since late 2010 and had $38 million in sales in 2014, up 70%. Profit more than doubled last year to $5 million. Teradyne reported 2014 sales of $1.65 billion, up 15% year over year. Net income rose 23% to $266 million. Universal Robots has sold more than 4,000 robots since entering the market in December 2008. Its product portfolio…