EMC revenue grows on strength of big data, VMware

Increasing customer demand for big data technologies and cloud computing brought record financial results at EMC in the second quarter, the company reported Wednesday.

EMC’s consolidated revenue rose 20 percent to US$4.85 billion. Earnings per share increased 20 percent year over year to $0.24. The results came one day after EMC’s majority-owned subsidiary VMware reported year-over-year revenue growth of 37 percent.

With this increase the VMware business saw the strongest growth in EMC’s revenue gains. Business at the RSA Information Security division grew 13 percent year over year. EMC’s Information storage business grew 19 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Revenue for EMC’s high-end Symmetrix storage product portfolio, which includes the EMC Symmetrix VMAX, increased 15 percent. EMC’s portfolio of mid-tier storage products saw growth of 27 percent.

EMC Chairman and CEO Joseph Tucci attributed the results to customer demand for cloud computing and big data solutions. Given the strong growth, EMC Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Goulden said the company was raising its financial outlook for the year to consolidated revenue of more than $19.8 billion. The quarter before EMC had said it expected 2011 revenue to be $19.6 billion.

Revenue in the U.S. grew 17 percent in the quarter to $2.5 billion. The U.S. market represented 52 percent of EMC’s business. EMC’s business outside of the United States hit an all-time record $2.3 billion, the company reported. Revenue outside the U.S. grew strongest in Latin America with an increase of 43 percent. Business in Asia Pacific and Japan increased 34 percent, while EMC’s revenue in Europe, Middle East and Africa grew 20 percent.

The company’s reported non-GAAP earnings of $0.35 per share exceeded the $0.34 estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial. EMC also beat analysts’ revenue estimate of $4.73 billion.