VMware Beats, Gives Bullish Guidance
PALO ALTO, Calif. (
) -- Virtualization trailblazer
VMware
(VMW) - Get VMware, Inc. Class A Report
blew past analysts' estimates in its
first-quarter results
and offered strong guidance for the second quarter.
VMware brought in revenue of $634 million, up from $470.3 million in the prior year's quarter, and well above analysts' estimate of $592.53 million. Excluding items, VMware earned 32 cents a share, up from 25 cents a share in the prior year's quarter and above Wall Street's prediction of 28 cents a share.
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The company's license revenues were $312 million, compared to $257 million in the same period last year when VMware was struggling with the recession. VMware's U.S. and international sales grew 30% and 40%, respectively.
"Our strong first-quarter results were driven by pent-up customer demand, carried over from last quarter, as well as strong performance in Europe, China and Japan," said Mark Peek, VMware's CFO, in a statement.
Peek expects VMware's second-quarter license revenue to dip sequentially, but predicts total revenue between $635 million and $665 million, above Wall Street's estimate of $607.65 million. For fiscal 2010, VMware anticipates sales between $2.63 billion and $2.73 billion, compared to analysts' estimate of $2.53 billion.
Despite VMware's impressive numbers, however, at least one analyst has
urged investors to approach the company's stock with caution
TheStreet Recommends
.
Virtualization lets users divide physical hardware into multiple "virtual" chunks and has grown in popularity among users looking to juggle myriad of operating systems and applications. With companies also struggling with budget pressures, VMware and rival
Citrix
(CTXS) - Get Citrix Systems, Inc. Report
are
pushing virtualization as a way for firms to reduce the amount of server and storage hardware
within their data centers.
VMware shares slipped 50 cents, or 0.88%, to $56.02 in extended trading on Tuesday.
-- Reported by James Rogers in New York
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