Markets

U.S. close in 4 hrs, 50 mins

DJIA

10,014.80

-43.84

0.44%

NASDAQ

2,137.95

-12.92

0.60%

S&P 500

1,064.78

-5.74

0.54%

10yr Note

97.875

0.9688

1.00%

FTSE 100

5,129.46

17.62

0.34%

Nikkei 225

9,963.99

31.09

0.31%

Hang Seng

19,922.22

131.94

0.67%

Euro (in USD)

1.37

-0.0096

0.70%

Yen (per USD)

89.87

0.08

0.09%

Gold

1,065.50

-11.20

1.04%

Oil

72.97

-0.78

1.06%

BUSINESS NEWS

INVESTING

Financial Glossary

PERSONAL FINANCE AT WALLETPOP

SMALL BUSINESS

Ahead of the Bell: VMware stock tumbles on warning

AP ONLINE

Posted: 2009-04-23 09:11:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of VMware Inc. skidded in premarket trading Thursday after the software maker said sales in the current quarter would come in substantially below expectations.

The stock fell $5.05, or 16 percent, to $27.50.

Late Wednesday, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company posted first-quarter results that were close to analyst expectations. But the news analysts seized on was that Chief Executive Paul Maritz said sales in the current quarter will be flat or even down compared with a year ago.

Second-quarter sales were $456.2 million last year, well below the $499.7 million that analysts had been expecting for the current quarter.

Lazard Capital analyst Joel Fishbein downgraded VMware from "Hold" to "Sell," saying an analysis of the results pointed to a further slowdown in revenues.

Keith Bachman at BMO Capital Markets maintained a "Market Perform" rating, saying VMware's products still have a competitive advantage, though investor expectations have been "moving ahead of economic reality."

VMware's "virtualization software" helps companies save money on power and equipment by enabling a single computer to function like multiple machines.