Gen Digital to Report Q2 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?

Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Nov. 6, after market close.

GEN expects non-GAAP revenues in the band of $1.18-$1.21 billion for the quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.19 billion, indicating 22.3% year-over-year growth.

For the fiscal second quarter, Gen Digital expects non-GAAP earnings in the range of 60-62 cents per share. The consensus mark for the same is pegged at 61 cents per share, suggesting a year-over-year rise of 12.9%. The estimate has been revised upward by a cent over the past 60 days.

GEN’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and matched once, the average surprise being 2.6%.

Gen Digital Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Gen Digital Inc. price-eps-surprise | Gen Digital Inc. Quote

Factors Likely to Influence GEN’s Q2 Results

Gen Digital’s second-quarter fiscal 2026 performance is likely to have benefited from the rise in demand for cybersecurity-related products, driven by a massive increase in global hacking events. Its persistent effort to offer innovative solutions that meet the consumer needs for security, identity and privacy is enabling the company to gain new clients. In the first quarter, Gen Digital’s average direct paying customer count increased 250,000 sequentially to an impressive 40.6 million.

Product momentum in the quarter is likely to have been supported by continued adoption of Norton 360 and the AI-powered Genie Scam Protection feature, along with newer capabilities like Norton Deepfake Detection and Norton Neo, which strengthen GEN’s AI-first positioning. Our second-quarter estimate for Gen Digital’s Cyber Safety Platform segment’s revenues is pegged at $803.3 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 1.8%. Our estimate of $388 million for the Trust-Based Solutions division implies growth of 109.7% from the year-ago quarter.

An increase in client bookings, supported by strong retention, international expansion and strategic partnerships, is likely to have aided top-line growth in the fiscal second quarter. Robust demand for identity theft protection solutions, dark web monitoring, social media monitoring, stolen wallet assistant and ID restoration is expected to have been positive for the quarter under review.

Nonetheless, GEN’s fiscal second-quarter performance is likely to have been impacted by the decline in IT spending. The combination of persistently high interest rates and continuing inflation is expected to have affected consumer spending. Additionally, postponement of IT investments by enterprises due to a faltering global economy, along with ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, is expected to have weighed on the company's prospects in the to-be-reported quarter.

Earnings Whispers for GEN Stock

Our proven model conclusively predicts an earnings beat for Gen Digital this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is the exact case here.

Gen Digital has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies worth considering, as our model indicates that they possess the right combination of factors to exceed earnings expectations in their upcoming releases:

Fair Isaac (FICO) has an Earnings ESP of +0.46% and sports a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Fair Isaac is set to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results on Nov. 5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FICO’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at $7.34 per share, up by 2 cents over the past 30 days, indicating an increase of 12.2% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

StoneCo (STNE) has an Earnings ESP of +7.81% and sports a Zacks Rank #1 at present.

Stone Co is set to report third-quarter 2025 results on Nov. 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STNE’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at 43 cents per share, up by 2 cents over the past 30 days, indicating an increase of 22.9% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Lumentum (LITE) has an Earnings ESP of +2.14% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.

Lumentum is slated to report first-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Nov. 4. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LITE’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.03 per share, unchanged over the past 60 days, indicating a rise of 472.2% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research