VMware (VMW)

One of my Fooligan picks from the Rule Breaker menu.

The reason for my thumbs-up now on VMW is the fact that we're seeing the same price range as the first post-IPO buyers back in August '07, after a round trip to 125 and back. Meanwhile the company has been growing nicely for a year and its story, as far as I can tell, is intact. I attribute the big price pullback to the one-two punch of normal dissipation of IPO mass hysteria, and the grim tone of the overall market. Altogether, a happy set of circumstances in terms of the risk-reward picture on the stock. It's certainly at a better valuation now than it was a year ago.

Although I'm not specifically familiar with VMWare's products or with the virtualization concept, I think a rough analogy with Oracle's position in the database world might be appropriate. There always were numerous cheaper alternatives to Oracle's database product, and arguably some with better features. It didn't appear that Oracle had a moat, but it got off to a big head start over competitors through sheer marketing and sales acumen, and parlayed that into unassailable dominance.

The analogy does raise some questions, in that Oracle eventually had to transition into a much broader market of application software in order to keep growing. I don't know if there's a similar follow-on to virtualization software, but given VMW's current growth rate I don't think that will be a concern for quite awhile.

good growth

This company has LOTS of cash, low debt. They provide virtualization software for data center applications. With the green initiative worldwide, I think that this stock will do well. Also, I believe it is oversold ATM.

it's come back off its lows but not finished anywhere a real retracing of its highs. If the market recovers at all seriously it will continue to go up.

I'm a Data Guy, and I know that vmw is going to shake up the Old Boy," We Always Do It This Way" kind of thinking...and more importantly how folks buy and use.

Strong company, with groundbreaking technology that REALY allow for lower costs, more flexibility and green IT. Their customers are not only users - they are fans of VMware.

They are by far leaders in the market they created, and every single IT analyst - from Gartner to Forrester - would agree that they still leave any competitor in the dust for a large margin, while the market opportunity is still huge.

VMware changed the whole IT game by reinventing the way computers and datacenters are used.

Virtualization is the key trend that goes on in IT now. VMWare is positioned better than anyone to take advantage. With the stock price reset after 2007 earnings it's definitely set for long term growth.

good product

OMG!!

When the secritive and secuity conscious mega-defense contractor and oil field services Halliburton entrusted VMware to handle outsourcing of their servers- one has to think this is one formidable company to watch.

high expectations

I can't wait to see where this stock will be 1 year from now! VMware's software is truly amazing and as of right now, they have no true competition. Microsoft is trying, but there is no way they will ever be able to offer the array of products from home usage (Fusion) all the way up to Enterprise solutions like VMware can.

VMWare is back to $50, the low end of my fair value estimate based on potential market size and share. Microsoft's offering is not a big deal. Sadly, Microsoft's reputation and IT managers' needs in a hypervisor are not compatible.

The skys the limit.

I work in IT.

Virtualization of servers is a Good Thing. Less cost, easier maintance, easier to make into a load balanced, high availability, disaster recoverable solution.

There are no downsides.

This company will make insane amounts of money as more and more IT shops move to virtualized environments, and they are the top player in this field.

Virtualization technology is the next big game changer in the IT field. VMW is way, way ahead of everyone else in this field. Competitors (MSFT, Oracle, etc) do not focus exclusively on virtualization as VMW does. I don't see competitors catching up, let alone surpassing, VMW anytime soon.

Top dog in cloud computing. Good financials and P/E of only about 21

virtual world

leader in virtualization