McAfee making financial strides

McAfee has had its share of setbacks in the last couple years. There was a stock options scandal that forced a major shake-up among the top brass, and a lawsuit in which rival vendor DeepNines accused it of patent infringement and false product marking.

But if the company’s latest profit report is any measure, things are looking up.

Thursday the company beat Wall Street forecasts and boasted higher profits and revenue for the first quarter, thanks to rising worldwide demand for its products.

“We feel pretty good about the business,” McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt told reporters during a media conference call. “There is a lot of growth in the overall security market that gives us a bullish outlook.”

For the first quarter, Reuters reported, net income rose to $46.2 million, or 28 cents per share, from $40.9 million, or 25 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding items, the world’s second-biggest security software maker said it posted a per-share profit of 44 cents.

Analysts on average were expecting a per-share profit of 34 cents on revenue of $292.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue for the quarter rose to $314 million from $272 million, with gains of 9% in North America, 24% in Europe and the Middle East, 35% in the Asia Pacific and 26% in Latin America.

Some of this success may also be attributed to McAfee’s more recent offerings. When it unveiled Total Protection  last year, the company said it was responding to IT professionals who want fewer security tools and a better way to manage what they have. Analysts have said that security vendors must move in this direction to effectively counter Microsoft’s thrust into the security market.