VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) released its earnings numbers for the first three months of 2014 this afternoon after the market closed in New York. The company showed earnings of $0.80 per share for the period it records as its first quarter. Revenue came in at $1.36 billion. On today’s market shares in VMware trended up, along with the rest of the tech sector, and finished trading at $77.48.
41 analysts following the enterprise software firm saw earnings per share coming in at $0.79 by consensus. The same analysts, who were surveyed by Bloomberg, were looking for revenue of $1.4 billion from VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) . In the same three months of last year VMware managed to earn 74 cents per share on revenue of $1.2 billion.
VMware stock explodes after earnings
Stock in VMware Inc. (NYSE:VMW) jumped in value directly after the company recorded the small beat over analyst expectations in this afternoon’s earnings report. The company’s stock soared up by more than 2% in the minutes directly following the earnings announcement.
The market was a little forgiving to the company after it recorded a tiny iss in revenues. For a growing concern like VMware Inc. (NYSE:VMW) revenue growth is often more important than earnings growth, as long as costs are not getting out of control.
VMware in a tough environment
Competition and lack of maturity are two of the biggest problems facing VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW). The company’s desktop virtualization solution, as well as its server virtualization suite and other products, has been praised as a perfect stepping stone for businesses considering a move into the cloud. Enterprise software can be fickle, however, and VMware doesn’t have the same clout as the bigger names it competes against.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) are just two of the companies that VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) needs to fend off if it wants to grow its market share, and even dominate the enterprise software and services game in the years to come. Those companies have not been all that successful in the business just yet, but they have names that are likely to carry them through to success.
Enterprise computing is the next big growth area in IT, if the analysts are to be believed. The problem is that it’s difficult to convince businesses to spend money and alter their existing systems. The company that can do that will reap the initial benefits of the growth in the industry. VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) investors must be sure that their company will ultimately succeed in that endeavor.