VMware Q1 solid, revenue up five percent to $1.59 billion

VMware reported first quarter earnings and revenue Tuesday that came in just above Wall Street expectations.

The virtualization giant reported a net income of $161 million, or 38 cents per share (statement).

Non-GAAP earnings were 86 cents per share on a revenue of $1.59 billion, up five percent year-over-year.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 84 cents per share with revenue of $1.58 billion.

VMware also announced plans to repurchase $1.2 billion of its Class A common stock in 2016, which helped boost its shares 3.7 percent in after-market trading.

"I'm pleased with the team's ability to execute according to our Q1 plan," said Vmware's newly minted finance chief Zane Rowe. "Our intent to repurchase $1.2 billion of stock this year underscores the confidence we have in the business and reinforces our capital allocation strategy, which includes returning capital to shareholders."

Rowe took the CFO helm from Jonathan Chadwick in January. Chadwick, along with former COO Carl Eschenbach, left VMware amid its plans for a restructure. The virtualization leader also said it was laying off around 800 employees as it worked to better invest in growth areas.

Of course all of this pruning comes ahead of the planned EMC-Dell merger.

As for the current quarter, VMware will provide guidance during its conference call. Wall Street is looking for non-GAAP earnings of 94 cents per share with $1.66 billion in revenue.