GEN Gears Up to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?

Gen Digital Inc. GEN is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 6, after market close.

GEN expects non-GAAP revenues of $990-$1,005 million for the quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $998 million, indicating 3.2% year-over-year growth.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, Gen Digital expects non-GAAP earnings to be in the range of 57-59 cents per share. The consensus mark for the same is pegged at 58 cents per share, suggesting a year-over-year rise of 9.4%. The estimate remained unchanged for the past 60 days.

GEN’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and met in the others, the average surprise being 0.94%. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)

Factors Likely to Influence GEN’s Q4 Results

Gen Digital’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 performance is likely to have benefited from the rise in the 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 third quarter, Gen Digital’s average direct paying customer count increased 400,000 to an impressive 40.1 million.

The launch of Norton Small Business Premium, a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with 24/7 tech support, financial monitoring and social media monitoring, is likely to have boosted sales in the to-be-reported quarter. Our fourth-quarter estimate for Gen Digital’s Consumer Security segment’s revenues is pegged at $632.9 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 1.9%. Our estimate of $354 million for the Identity and Information Protection division implies growth of 4.1% from the year-ago 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. 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 fourth quarter.

Nonetheless, GEN’s fiscal fourth-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, enterprises are deferring their substantial IT investments due to a faltering global economy, which is compounded by ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges.

Earnings Whispers for GEN Stock

Our proven model does not conclusively predict 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, which is not the case here.

Gen Digital has an Earnings ESP of -1.16% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks With Favorable Combination

Per our model, BILL Holdings BILL, Fortinet FTNT and Advanced Micro Devices AMD have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

BILL Holdings has an Earnings ESP of +0.30% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

It is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 8. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BILL Holdings’ third-quarter earnings is pegged at 37 cents per share and has remained unchanged over the past 60 days. The consensus mark indicates a year-over-year decline of 38.3%. BILL Holdings shares have tanked 28% over the past year.

Fortinet is set to report first-quarter 2025 results on May 7. It has an Earnings ESP of +3.77% and carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fortinet’s first-quarter earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at 53 cents, remained unchanged over the past 60 days and indicates year-over-year growth of 23.3%. Shares of Fortinet have risen 59.1% over the past year.

Advanced Micro Devices is set to report first-quarter 2025 results on May 6. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.74% and carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Advanced Micro Devices’ first-quarter earnings is pegged at 93 cents per share, indicating an increase of 50% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. The projection has remained unchanged over the past 60 days. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices have plunged 33.4% over the past year.

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

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