VMWare Q3 Sales, Profit Beat Forecasts; Sales Ahead of Estimates; Stock Up 23 Percent

Virtualization software vendor VMware (VMW) this evening reported sales and profit for its third quarter ended Sept. 30 that beat expectations on both counts.

Sales rose 32 percent, year over year, to $472 million, while profit per share, excluding some costs, came in at 24 cents. Analysts had been looking for 20 cents per share on $462 million.

Sales in the U.S. grew 24 percent in the quarter, year over year, while international sales rose nearly twice as fast, at 42 percent.

For the full year 2008, the company reiterated an outlook for revenue growth of between 42 and 45 percent. That range is above the 41.7 percent analysts have been forecasting, to $1.88 billion.

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