Sphere 3D Corp (ANY)

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Are competition. August 26, 2014
12:32 EDT VMW, EMC VMware slips after updating 2015 guidance at analyst day
Following VMware's (VMW) analyst day meeting, held yesterday afternoon, two research firms issued differing takes on the company's updated fiscal 2015 guidance. BULLISH TAKE: VMware's guidance for revenue growth in the mid teens percentage level and margin expansion of up to one percentage point is positive, RBC Capital analyst Matthew Hedberg wrote today. Although Hedberg said the guidance was in-line with his expectations, investors felt that the company's revenue growth guidance could come in below 15%, the analyst stated. He maintained a $120 price target and Outperform rating on the shares. BEARISH TAKE: Gregg Moskowitz, an analyst at research firm Cowen, wrote today that VMware's FY15 revenue guidance would "likely weigh modestly" on the stock, even though he was not surprised by the outlook. However, VMware continues to be well-positioned for growth, as it is benefiting from several trends, including accelerating infrastructure expansion and the adoption of virtualization by small and medium businesses, Moskowitz believes. Additionally, VMware estimated that its total available market would reach more than $60B in 2017, versus its estimate last year of a $50B+ total addressable market by 2016, Moskowitz noted. He kept an Outperform rating on the shares. WHAT'S NOTABLE: On August 8, research firm Pacific Crest said a survey it conducted indicated that VMware could have an increasing role in both core virtualization and cloud services. The firm said that it had an upward bias to its second half estimates for VMware and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. PRICE ACTION: In early afternoon trading, VMware fell 3% to $97.70. EMC (EMC), which holds an 80% stake in VMware, lost 0.5% to $29.52.