VMware Beats Street in Q1 Earnings, Ups Margin Projections

VMware in its first-quarter earnings report April 19 outperformed Wall Street projections and then adjusted its guidance up for its margins this year.
Company executives told listeners on the quarterly conference call that VMware had picked up a large number of new customers in the first quarter, many of whom were buying VMware View for cloud computing controls.
The virtualization software maker reported that its net income climbed to $125.8 million (29 cents per share), up from $78.4 million (19 cents per share) in Q1 2009.
Excluding some one-time items, VMware came in with earnings of 48 cents per share, which beat Wall Street’s average estimate of 42 cents, according to Thomson Reuters.
Revenue zoomed 33 percent to $844 million, which was well above analysts’ average forecast of $815 million.
VMware said on the call that it had successfully closed a number of large enterprise licensing agreements during the quarter, but did not say how many or name any of its new clients.
VMware has refigured its non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) operating margin for 2011 to “expand slightly” from 2010, Chief Financial Officer Mark Peek said. In Q4 2010, Peek had said the company expected “little, if any, margin expansion in 2011.”
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization software maker’s stock was up 12.5 percent to $86 four hours after the market closed.