LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Software firms Symantec Inc. and RealNetworks Inc. will join credit-card issuer Visa Inc. and insurance giant MetLife Inc. in releasing their latest quarterly figures Wednesday evening.
Security-software firm Symantec Inc. SYMC is forecast to report second-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share on sales of $1.54 billion, according to a FactSet Research survey. Earlier this month, Symantec said it agreed to purchase MessageLabs, a provider of online messaging and Web security services for $695 million.
Shares of Symantec were down 1% at $14.66 ahead of the report.
RealNetworks RNWK is expected to turn in a loss of 3 cents a share on a 6% revenue increase to $154 million, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of analysts. Shares of the company, which runs the Rhapsody music service, moved 2.4% lower to $4.10 before the release of the results.
JDS Uniphase Corp. JDSU is forecast to report per-share earnings of 9 cents on sales of $386 million for the fiscal first quarter.
Analysts expect Sanmina-SCI Corp. SANM, an electronics contract manufacturer, to report earnings of 5 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, with a revenue decline of 26% to $1.86 billion.
Wall Street expects CA CA to report earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $1.12 billion. Stock in CA, a maker of IT management software, edged up 0.7% to $16.17.
Visa V is expected to post fourth-quarter earnings of 55 cents a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Ameriprise Financial AMP is expected to post earnings of 82 cents a share in the third quarter.
Life insurance provider MetLife MET is likely to post a 42% decline in earnings to 89 cents a share in the third quarter, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
Prudential Financial's PRU third-quarter earnings are forecast to come in at $1.05 a share.
Insurance stocks have been hurt in recent sessions, with uncertainty lingering about whether or not the Treasury Department will invest in the sector because the government has focused its stabilization efforts on lending institutions that can boost credit supply. See full story .
In dayside trading, U.S. stocks moved off their session highs after the Federal Reserve unanimously -- and in line with expectations -- decided to cut its overnight lending rate by 50 basis points, to 1%. The rate now stands at its lowest level since 2004. See Market Snapshot.
The discount rate was also lowered, to 1.25%.
Fed policymakers said in a statement that downside risks to economic growth remains, and they left the door open for more rate cuts. Read The Fed.
