McAfee’s 3rd-Quarter Profit Beats Estimates

McAfee Associates Inc. said in a preliminary results statement that its third-quarter earnings were 45 cents a share, just beating analysts’ expectations, on sharply higher revenue from its anti-virus software. The Santa Clara-based software maker was expected to earn 44 cents a share in the third quarter, compared with 24 cents a share in the year-ago period. McAfee Chief Executive Bill Larson said new product areas, including help-desk software, used by companies to automate their customer help-line operations, are also growing well. McAfee is the largest maker of anti-virus software, which protects computers against programs designed to damage or destroy information. Shares soared $4.94 to close at $59.88 on Nasdaq.