VMware Just Delivered One Of Its Best Quarters In Years

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) reported after Thursday's market close one of its best prints in years, at least according to RBC Capital Markets' Matthew Hedberg.

VMware reported that it earned $1.43 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $2.03 billion while Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.40 per share on revenue of $1.99 billion.

Hedberg argued that the quarterly results were "nicely ahead" and was attributed to large customers renewing the company's core offerings and also signing up for new products. In fact, VMware is "forward-thinking" in this respect and offers customers an evolving hybrid-cloud landscape with a cross-cloud architecture, recently announced SaaS offerings, and significant partnership opportunities with IBM and Amazon's AWS.

The analyst added that VMware's commentary of $1 billion in revenue synergies from Dell is a nice tailwind and could contribute $200 million in synergies in fiscal 2018.

"With reasonable expectations that include an increase in full-year guidance, the potential for additional upside to estimates, momentum heading into FY/18 (year ending January '18), and a discounted valuation relative to peers, we continue to like the risk/reward," Hedberg wrote.

Shares remain Outperform rated with a price target boosted to $97 from a previous $90.

Image Credit: By Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine - Own work, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons