VMware reported better than expected financial results today and said it was standing by its forecast for the rest of the year, albeit at the lower end of its guidance.
Revenue for the third quarter was US$472 million, up 32 percent from the same period a year ago. That’s slower growth than VMware has reported in the past, but still ahead of the $463 million that financial analysts had been expecting, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Net income was $83 million, or $0.21 per share, up from $65 million, or $0.18 per share, in the third quarter last year. That too was ahead of the analyst forecast, which called for earnings of $0.20 per share.
VMware maintained its forecast for 2008 revenue growth of 42 percent to 45 percent, but it cautioned that the economic uncertainty makes it difficult to predict demand for its products. It said there was “an increased likelihood that 2008 revenue will be at the lower end of the guidance range.”
VMware CEO Paul Maritz called the figures “solid” in the face of a “challenging economic environment.” During the call with financial analysts, Maritz also said VMware has not seen its sales drop off since Microsoft introduced Hyper-V into the virtualization market in June. Maritz is also confident that VMware’s product roadmap is a full 12 to 24 months ahead of Microsoft’s virtualization roadmap.