VMware earnings beat amid acquisitions of Pivotal, Carbon Black

VMware Inc. shares gained in extended trading Tuesday after the software company reported better earnings than expected while swallowing former partners Pivotal Software and Carbon Black. VMware reported net income of $621 million, or $1.50 a share, on sales of $2.46 billion, up from $2.2 billion a year ago. Earnings were inflated by a $243 million gain on fair-value accounting of its investment in Pivotal, a spinoff that VMware is in the process of acquiring. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and acquisition-related costs, including the Pivotal gains, VMware reported earnings of $1.49 a share, down from $1.56 a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of $1.41 a share on sales of $2.41 billion, according to FactSet. The company did not publish a forecast in the announcement, but said it would discuss its business outlook in a conference call scheduled for 4:30 Eastern time. Shares gained more than 1% in after-hours trading following release of the results, after closing with a 2.3% decline at $164.90. Read More...