H-P Rumor Heats Symantec

Symantec stock has been up 7.8% in the three months since Sept. 11, and up nearly 18% in a year.

That may not amount to much if you look at the performance of Symantec and its peers, such as Check Point, over a two-year period, says Robert Lawton, portfolio manager with the Catoosa Fund, which does not own shares of Symantec.

"Regardless of how these companies try to repackage what is essentially their competing, one-product commodities in an arguably mature, slow-growth market, the bottom line is that these nondividend-paying stocks haven't budged much," he says.