Symantec 2016 Annual Report Download - page 100

existing products and services, effectively adapt to changes in the technology or product rights held by our
competitors, appropriately respond to competitive strategies and effectively adapt to technological changes and
changes in the ways that our information is accessed, used and stored within our enterprise and consumer
markets. If we are unsuccessful in responding to our competitors or to changing technological and customer
demands, our competitive position and our financial results could be adversely affected.
Our competitors include software vendors that offer software products that directly compete with our product
offerings. In addition to competing with these vendors directly for sales to end-users of our products, we compete
with them for the opportunity to have our products bundled with the product offerings of our strategic partners
such as computer hardware OEMs and ISPs. Our competitors could gain market share from us if any of these
strategic partners replace our products with the products of our competitors or if these partners more actively
promote our competitors’ products than our products. In addition, software vendors who have bundled our
products with theirs may choose to bundle their software with their own or other vendors’ software or may limit
our access to standard product interfaces and inhibit our ability to develop products for their platform. In the
future, further product development by these vendors could cause our software applications and services to
become redundant, which could significantly impact our sales and financial results.
We face growing competition from network equipment, computer hardware manufacturers, large operating
system providers and other technology companies that are increasingly developing and incorporating into their
products data protection software that competes at some levels with our product offerings. Our competitive
position could be adversely affected to the extent that our customers perceive the functionality incorporated into
these products as replacing the need for our products.
Security protection is also offered by some of our competitors at prices lower than our prices or, in some cases is
offered free of charge. Some companies offer the lower-priced or free security products within their computer
hardware or software products that we believe are inferior to our products and SaaS offerings. Our competitive
position could be adversely affected to the extent that our customers perceive these security products as replacing
the need for more effective, full featured products and services, such as those that we provide. The expansion of
these competitive trends could have a significant negative impact on our sales and financial results by causing,
among other things, price reductions of our products, reduced profitability and loss of market share.
Many of our competitors have greater financial, technical, sales, marketing or other resources than we do and
consequently, may have the ability to influence customers to purchase their products instead of ours. Further
consolidation within our industry or other changes in the competitive environment could result in larger
competitors that compete with us on several levels. We also face competition from many smaller companies that
specialize in particular segments of the markets in which we compete.
Fluctuations in our quarterly financial results have affected the price of our common stock in the past and
could affect our stock price in the future.
Our quarterly financial results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to vary significantly in the future due to a
number of factors, many of which are outside of our control. If our quarterly financial results or our predictions
of future financial results fail to meet our expectations or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, our
stock price could be negatively affected. Any volatility in our quarterly financial results may make it more
difficult for us to raise capital in the future or pursue acquisitions that involve issuances of our stock. Our
operating results for prior periods may not be effective predictors of our future performance.
Factors associated with our industry, the operation of our business, and the markets for our products may cause
our quarterly financial results to fluctuate, including:
• Reduced demand for any of our products and services;
• Entry of new competition into our markets;
12