VMware has announced financial results for the third quarter 2009:
US revenues for the third quarter declined 1% to $246 million from the third quarter of 2008. International revenues for the third quarter grew 9% to $244 million from the third quarter of 2008.
Services revenues, which include software maintenance and professional services, were $250 million, an increase of 33% from the third quarter of 2008.
Recent Strategic Announcements and Highlights
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
VMware has provided a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure used in this earnings release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. These non-GAAP financial measures, which are used as measures of VMware’s performance, should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, measures of VMware’s financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. These measures differ from GAAP in that they exclude stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, employer payroll tax on employee stock transactions, acquisition related items, the net effect of the amortization and capitalization of software development costs. VMware’s bases for these adjustments are described below.
VMware’s management uses the non-GAAP financial measures referenced in this release and shown in the accompanying schedules to gain an understanding of VMware’s comparative operating results (when comparing such results with previous periods or forecasts) and its future prospects and excludes the above-listed items from its internal operating plans and measurement of financial performance, including budgeting, calculating bonus payments, and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures are used by VMware’s management in their financial and operating decision-making because management believes they reflect VMware’s ongoing business in a manner that allows meaningful period-to-period comparisons. As the non-GAAP financial measures exclude expenses that VMware believes are not reflective of ongoing operating results, management believes the non-GAAP financial measures enable management to better analyze trends in its business. When evaluating the performance of our individual functional groups, VMware does not consider the above-listed items that it excludes from its non-GAAP financial measures. Likewise, VMware excludes such items from its short and long-term operating plans. VMware’s management also believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others (a) in understanding and evaluating VMware’s current operating results and future prospects in the same manner as management does, if they so choose, and (b) an additional basis for comparing in a consistent manner VMware’s current financial results with VMware’s past financial results.
In addition to the foregoing, management believes that these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors and others in assessing VMware’s operating performance due to the following factors:
Acquisition related items include direct costs of acquisitions. Examples of costs directly related to an acquisition include transactions fees and due diligence costs. While we believe it is useful for investors to understand the effects of these items on our total operating expenses, these expenses vary significantly in size and amount and are unique to specific acquisitions and as such are disregarded by management when evaluating the Company’s ongoing operating results. Acquisition related items also includes the gain on the Company’s initial investment in SpringSource Global, Inc., which was remeasured to fair value immediately before the Company’s acquisition of SpringSource. Management excludes the impact of such gains or losses on such investments when evaluating the Company’s ongoing operating results. Excluding the impact of the gain on the Company’s initial investment in SpringSource from the Company’s operating results is also important to facilitate comparisons to prior periods.
The amortization and capitalization of software development costs can vary significantly depending upon the timing of products reaching technological feasibility and the timing of when products are made generally available. VMware believes that by removing the variance in operating results caused by the net effect of the amortization and capitalization of software development costs, the non-GAAP presentation provides investors and others with a basis similar to that used by management for comparing the level of ongoing research and development expenses and related operational trends across accounting periods.
