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VMware (VMW) Stock Moves -1.75%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, VMware closed at $158.58, marking a -1.75% move from the previous day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.91%. At the same time, the Dow lost 2.02%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.26%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the cloud computing company had gained 2.33% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.02% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.51% in that time.

VMW will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 7, 2019. In that report, analysts expect VMW to post earnings of $1.87 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 11.31%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.50 billion, up 8.28% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.23 per share and revenue of $8.88 billion. These totals would mark changes of +20.04% and +12.15%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for VMW. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.03% higher within the past month. VMW is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that VMW has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.91 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 29.02.

We can also see that VMW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.84. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Computer - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.13 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 62, putting it in the top 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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