Dell Technologies Raises Guidance Despite Mixed Results

Dell Technologies (DELL) has reported mixed first-quarter financial results but raised its forward guidance due to growing sales of its artificial intelligence (A.I.) servers. The Texas-based company announced earnings per share (EPS) of $1.55 U.S., which fell short of the $1.69 U.S. forecast on Wall Street. Revenue in the period totaled $23.38 billion U.S., which surpassed the $23.14 billion U.S. consensus forecast of analysts. Sales were up 5% from a year earlier.In terms of guidance, Dell’s executive team said they expect $2.25 U.S. in earnings per share for the current quarter, with between $28.50 billion U.S. and $29.50 billion U.S. of revenue. That outlook is higher than consensus expectations across Wall Street. Management attributed the strong guidance to $7 billion U.S. in A.I. servers that are expected to ship during the current quarter.For the full year, Dell expects $103 billion U.S. in revenue, which is in line with Wall Street forecasts. However, the company raised its forecast for full-year earnings to $9.40 U.S., which is a $0.10 U.S. increase from the company’s previous outlook.Dell is one of chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) main vendors for the servers that run A.I. processors. Executives at Dell said they are seeing “unprecedented demand” for those A.I. servers. Management said they have $14.40 billion U.S. in confirmed orders for A.I. servers in backlog that will ship in coming quarters. The company recorded $12.10 billion U.S. in A.I. server orders during this year’s first quarter.Dell’s A.I. server business is reported as part of its Infrastructure Solutions Group, which had $10.30 billion U.S. in sales during the quarter, a 12% year-over-year increase. Of that, $6.30 billion U.S. was sales for servers and networking, and $4 billion U.S. was for computers that store data.The company’s laptop and personal computer (PC) business recorded $12.50 billion U.S. in sales as the global PC market recovers after slumping following the Covid-19 pandemic. The computer maker spent $2.40 billion U.S. on share repurchases and dividends during the first quarter. Dell’s stock has declined 3% this year to trade at $113.63 U.S. per share.