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How to buy VMware stock | 152.61
Own VMware stock in just a few minutes.
VMware, Inc is a software—infrastructure business based in the US. VMware shares (VMW) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. VMware employs 29,450 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$11.3 billion.
How to buy shares in VMware
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for VMware. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: VMW. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until VMware reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$152.61, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of VMware, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of VMware. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
How has coronavirus impacted VMware's share price?
Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, VMware's share price has had significant negative movement.
Its last market close was USD$152.61, which is 4.54% down on its pre-crash value of USD$159.87 and 77.45% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$86.
If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of VMware shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$708.46 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,022.49.
VMware share price
Use our graph to track the performance of VMW stocks over time.VMware shares at a glance
Information last updated 2020-10-21.
| Latest market close | USD$152.61 |
|---|---|
| 52-week range | USD$86 - USD$173.37 |
| 50-day moving average | USD$144.75 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$141.023 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$174.2 |
| PE ratio | 41.1348 |
| Dividend yield | N/A (17.59%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$3.687 |
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Is it a good time to buy VMware stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
VMware price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the close of $152.61 from 2020-10-16
| 1 week (2020-10-22) | 3.31% |
|---|---|
| 1 month (2020-09-29) | 4.71% |
| 3 months (2020-07-29) | 9.14% |
| 6 months (2020-04-29) | 13.07% |
| 1 year (2019-10-29) | -4.33% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2018-10-29) | 12.00% |
| 3 years (2017-10-27) | 26.16% |
| 5 years (2015-10-29) | 160.78% |
Is VMware under- or over-valued?
Valuing VMware stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of VMware's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
VMware's P/E ratio
VMware's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 41x. In other words, VMware shares trade at around 41x recent earnings.
That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.
VMware's PEG ratio
VMware's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.071. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into VMware's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
VMware's EBITDA
VMware's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$2.3 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a VMware's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
VMware financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$11.3 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 14.99% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$9 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 4.38% |
| Return on equity TTM | 23.49% |
| Profit margin | 13.78% |
| Book value | $18.805 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$62.8 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting VMware shares
There are currently 6.7 million VMware shares held short by investors – that's known as VMware's "short interest". This figure is 1% down from 6.8 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting VMware shares can be evaluated.
VMware's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
VMware's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of VMware shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of VMware shares traded daily (recently around 1.2 million). VMware's SIR currently stands at 5.6. In other words for every 100,000 VMware shares traded daily on the market, roughly 5600 shares are currently held short.
However VMware's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of VMware shares, or, against the total number of tradable VMware shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case VMware's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 VMware shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.1008% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable VMware shares, roughly 101 shares are currently held short).
A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against VMware.
Find out more about how you can short VMware stock.
VMware's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like VMware.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
VMware's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 20.86
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and VMware's overall score of 20.86 (as at 10/01/2020) is excellent – landing it in it in the 16th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like VMware is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
VMware's environmental score
Environmental score: 5.78/100
VMware's environmental score of 5.78 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that VMware is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
VMware's social score
Social score: 15.73/100
VMware's social score of 15.73 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that VMware is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
VMware's governance score
Governance score: 11.86/100
VMware's governance score puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that VMware is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
VMware's controversy score
Controversy score: 2/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. VMware scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that VMware has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
VMware, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.
| Total ESG score | 20.86 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 15.52 |
| Environmental score | 5.78 |
| Environmental score percentile | 9 |
| Social score | 15.73 |
| Social score percentile | 9 |
| Governance score | 11.86 |
| Governance score percentile | 9 |
| Level of controversy | 2 |
VMware share dividends
We're not expecting VMware to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.
VMware share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, VMware's shares have ranged in value from as little as $86 up to $173.37. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while VMware's is 0.8163. This would suggest that VMware's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
VMware overview
VMware, Inc. provides software in the areas of hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, modern applications, networking and security, and digital workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers compute products, including VMware vSphere, a data center platform, which enables users to deploy hypervisor, a layer of software that resides between the operating system and system hardware to enable compute virtualization; and cloud management products for businesses with automated operation, programmable provisioning, and application monitoring solutions. It also provides networking and security products and services that enable customers to connect and operate their network; and storage and availability products, including data storage and protection options. In addition, it offers VMware Cloud Foundation, a platform that combines its compute, storage, and networking technologies with cloud management into an integrated stack and delivers enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. Further, it provides hybrid cloud computing solutions, such as VMware Cloud Provider Program, VMware Cloud Foundation, and VMware Cloud Services; computing solutions, such as Workspace ONE that delivers and manages any application on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management; pivotal cloud foundry, pivotal labs, and heptio, as well as pivotal application and pivotal container services; and VMware Carbon Black Cloud platform, AppDefense, and VMware Workspace ONE platform. The company sells its products through distributors, resellers, system vendors, and systems integrators. VMware, Inc. has strategic alliances with Amazon Web Services to build and deliver an integrated hybrid solution; and SNC-Lavalin to provide digital collaboration platform for project delivery. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. VMware, Inc. is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies Inc.
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