Gen Digital (GEN)
Forward P/E 8.04x against a peer median of 51.90x gives a ratio of 0.15x, and the absolute multiples are low on any basis: trailing P/E 14.05x, P/S 2.86x and PEG 0.94. The peer gap overstates the case — the median is lifted by high-growth security names such as CrowdStrike (190.40x forward) and Palo Alto Networks (95.26x), which are not like-for-like with a mature consumer-security business — but even ignoring peers entirely, 8.04x forward earnings with a sub-1 PEG is cheap. Growth is slow, not collapsing: latest-quarter revenue grew +6.3% YoY (PRIMARY/EDGAR), against a cluster median of +24.8%. Delivered demand check: the Systems software group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising, though Gen Digital grows far more slowly than the group.
What would change this label: The cheap label fails — re-rate FAIRLY PRICED, then OVERVALUED on the value-trap path — if revenue growth turns negative for two consecutive quarters or earnings estimates are cut so the forward P/E rises above ~12x at an unchanged price; it strengthens if revenue growth re-accelerates above +12% YoY while the forward P/E stays under ~10x.
Gen Digital sells antivirus and identity-protection software to households under brands like Norton and Avast. The business grows slowly — sales rose about 6% last quarter — but the shares cost only about 8 times next year's expected profits, far less than other software companies. Even allowing for the slow growth, that price looks too low for a profitable business that is still growing.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Gen Digital returned +1.81% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Gen Digital: -49.7% (2022-02-09 to 2023-05-16). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E 8.04x against a peer median of 51.90x gives a ratio of 0.15x, and the absolute multiples are low on any basis: trailing P/E 14.05x, P/S 2.86x and PEG 0.94. The peer gap overstates the case — the median is lifted by high-growth security names such as CrowdStrike (190.40x forward) and Palo Alto Networks (95.26x), which are not like-for-like with a mature consumer-security business — but even ignoring peers entirely, 8.04x forward earnings with a sub-1 PEG is cheap. Growth is slow, not collapsing: latest-quarter revenue grew +6.3% YoY (PRIMARY/EDGAR), against a cluster median of +24.8%. Delivered demand check: the Systems software group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising, though Gen Digital grows far more slowly than the group. The company’s forward P/E is 8.0× against a peer median of 51.9×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Systems software group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Latest-quarter sales growth was +6.3% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen Digital (GEN) | $24.08 | 8.0× | 14.1× |
| TWLO | $255.95 | 41.4× | 35.4× |
| FTNT | $182.50 | 51.9× | 64.5× |
| NOW | $153.70 | 33.9× | 96.0× |
| CRWD | $269.00 | 190.4× | 7297.1× |
| PANW | $398.00 | 95.3× | 995.0× |
| Peer median | 51.9× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jul 2026 2026-07-03 | $1.3B | 77.0% | $215M | 0.36 | $430M |
| Q/E Apr 2026 2026-04-03 | $1.3B | 78.5% | $512M | — | $476M |
| Q/E Jan 2026 2026-01-02 | $1.2B | 78.4% | $192M | 0.31 | $535M |
| Q/E Oct 2025 2025-10-03 | $1.2B | 78.2% | $134M | 0.21 | $107M |
| Q/E Jul 2025 2025-07-04 | $1.3B | 78.8% | $135M | 0.22 | $405M |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-28 | $1.0B | 80.3% | $142M | — | $470M |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-27 | $986M | 80.4% | $159M | 0.26 | $318M |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-27 | $974M | 80.1% | $161M | 0.26 | $156M |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-28 | $965M | 80.3% | $181M | 0.29 | $262M |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-29 | $967M | 80.3% | $134M | — | $1.4B |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-29 | $951M | 80.9% | $144M | 0.22 | $307M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-29 | $948M | 81.0% | $149M | 0.23 | $120M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | Gen Digital Inc. |
| Chief executive | Vincent Pilette (source: https://newsroom.gendigital.com/All-Brands-Releases?l=50) |
| Sector | Technology — Systems Software — consumer cybersecurity, antivirus and identity-protection software |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $24.08 |
| Market value (market cap) | $14.5B — share price times shares outstanding of 598,587,032 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $5.1B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $1.1B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $1.5B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jul 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +1.81% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -49.7% (2022-02-09 to 2023-05-16) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Peer-set caveat: the brief's peer median (51.90x) is dominated by high-growth security and platform names (CRWD, PANW, NOW, FTNT) that are not like-for-like with Gen Digital's mature consumer-security business, so the 0.15x ratio overstates the discount; the label also rests on the absolute multiples (8.04x forward, PEG 0.94).
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000849399.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000849399.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/GEN/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.