DALLAS - Dell Computer Corp., citing surprisingly strong sales in the U.S., said Thursday it is confident of meeting raised sales targets for the quarter ending May 3.
Chief financial officer Jim Schneider told analysts in New York that the computer maker is seeing a continuation of improvement in U.S. business segments that began late last year.
Late Wednesday, Dell said it expected to earn $435 million, or 16 cents per share, in the current quarter on sales of $7.9 billion - an increase over the $7.7 billion revenue that analysts had expected.
While $7.9 billion in sales would be a decline of about 2 percent from the previous quarter, it was a more upbeat assessment than Dell gave in mid-February, when it warned revenue could fall 3 to 5 percent from the prior quarter.
Schneider said Thursday that the company is confident of hitting the latest earnings and revenue targets.
Dell officials say the Round Rock-based company has benefited from a drop in the cost of components and by taking sales away from competitors. Dell is the world's leading personal computer maker and also sells servers, software and peripherals to consumers and corporate customers.
Schneider said Dell's focus this year will be on expanding its sales of servers, data storage equipment and notebook computers to business, and on reducing costs below 9 percent of revenue. He said Dell also aimed to increase its cash flow and use some of the proceeds to continue repurchasing shares.
In midday trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Dell shares were up 30 cents to $26.86. They have risen more than 67 percent since hitting a low of $16.01 in September.
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July 6th, 2025
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