Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Symantec Corp., the world's biggest maker of anti-virus software, said third-quarter profit and sales missed its forecast on lower revenue from its data center unit. The stock fell the most in a year.

Net income in the quarter ended Dec. 29 was 10 cents to 11 cents a share, compared with a forecast of 14 cents to 15 cents, Symantec said today in a statement. Sales rose to $1.29 billion to $1.31 billion, compared with a prediction for as much as $1.35 billion, Symantec said, citing preliminary figures.

The results trailed forecasts for a second straight quarter, prompting Cupertino, California-based Symantec to lower full-year predictions. Chief Executive Officer John Thompson said he overestimated sales Symantec would get from software to maintain data centers, a business the company acquired in its $10.2 billion takeover of Veritas Software Corp.

``It's a combination of a softer pipeline across all segments of their business and an extremely conservative take by management,'' said Morgan Keegan analyst Brian Freed in Memphis. He rates Symantec ``outperform'' and said he doesn't own the shares. ``Management has been burned a number of times.''

Shares of Symantec fell $2.69, or 13 percent, to $17.79 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They had gained 5.3 percent over the past year before today.

License Sales

``There's a huge personal disappointment associated with all of this,'' Thompson said on a conference call. The company will discuss cost-cutting measures next week, he said.

The shortfall in storage software follows results from software makers SAP AG and Oracle Corp. that missed analysts' expectations. Sarah Friar, an analyst with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in San Francisco, said corporations are reigning in their spending on information technology products.

``Chief information officers don't want to spend at the same clip they did last year,'' said Friar, who rates Symantec ``buy'' and doesn't own the shares. ``Companies bought a lot of technologies in the past and are now in digesting mode.''

Thompson said on the call that companies are facing challenges in getting corporate customers to renew software license agreements.

Weaker license sales led to a higher proportion of revenue from long-term maintenance contracts, pushing sales into future quarters. Symantec also said it had higher than anticipated expenses from installing a new software system.

Forecast

In the current quarter, profit, minus some expenses, is expected to decline to as much as 20 cents per share from 26 cents a year earlier. Sales, including deferred revenue from Veritas, will fall to $1.28 billion, Symantec said.

``The March quarter is extremely disappointing,'' said Daniel Ives, an analyst with Friedman Billings, Ramsey & Co. in New York who had estimated a profit of 31 cents on sales of $1.38 billion. ``This doesn't seem like a one-quarter blip.''

The company forecast profit this year, excluding some costs, of as much as 95 cents a share on sales of as much a $5.16 billion. Symantec had previously forecast profit of as much as $1.16 a share on sales of as much as $5.4 billion.

The data center business contributes about 30 percent of sales, Ives said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ron Day in New York at rday1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 16, 2007 16:09 EST