Symantec plummets after Reuters exclusive on outlook

Symantec’s shares took a beating after Reuters exclusively reported that the maker of computer security and backup software was pessimistic about the sales outlook for a key product ahead of its May 6 earnings conference call. Reuters was the only one to report that its CFO believed it would take at least several quarters for sales of its security software for small to mid-sized businesses to turn around. He repeated that warning on the conference call more than half an hour later. The stock, which was down about 3 percent before the interview, fell almost another 2 percentage points after the Reuters’ headlines. The next day it plunged 15 percent.