More Videos
|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- 'We're in the Middle of a Crash': Black Swan
- The Rising Mountain of Debt May Be the Next Crisis
- Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- Your First Move For Monday July 6th
- Malaysia PM Speaks to CNBC
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Will Resign
- Cuddle Parties Heat Up
- The Worst Expected 2010 State Budget Gaps
- Schwarzenegger Signals Key Budget Concession
- Palin's Resignation May Hurt Her Future
- North Korea Fires 7 Missiles Off East Coast
- The Rising Mountain of Debt May Be the Next Crisis
- Drug Bust Nets Heroin Stuffed in Build-A-Bear Toys
- For Banks, Wads of Cash and Loads of Trouble
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- Vatican Runs Deficit Amid Economic Crisis
- Earnings Season: A Likely Game-Changer
- Fireworks At Pharma's Market
- Value of Warren Buffett's Annual Gift to Gates Foundation Falls Along With Berkshire's Stock
- Michael Jackson: The Music And The Money
- Five Stock Picks for This Market
- Realities of the New Obama Refis
- Weak Dollar Means Gold at $1,040: Strategist
- Court Ruling Could Mean Trouble for TiVo
- Lance, Please Back Out Of Tour
- TeleMedicine Gets An Apple App Store Facelift
Text Size 
Dell reported earnings that declined 5 percent but easily exceeded expectations, sending its shares higher in late trading.
 |
Elise Amendola / AP |
Dell's earnings dipped to $727 million in the quarter that ended Oct. 31, down from $766 million a year ago. But Dell bought back a significant number of shares over the last year, pushing earnings per share up 9 percent, to 37 cents per share.
Analysts put Dell's earnings for the quarter at 31 cents a share, on a topline of $16.22 billion, according to a consensus estimate compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Shares of Dell [DELL
Loading...
()
] rose more than 5.5 percent in extended trading Thursday. They closed the day's regular session down 5.23 percent at $9.81.
Dell bought back a significant number of shares over the last year, partly explaining the 9 percent per-share earnings increase.
Dell blamed a corporate spending slowdown for the sales decline, saying that its consumer PC sales improved by 10 percent.
In the Americas, Dell's largest region for sales to businesses, revenue dropped 8 percent. (See Jim Goldman's report on Dell's earnings announcement, left.)
"The company was able to report above expectations as cost-cutting efforts offset revenue growth. It was certainly a surprise and what this shows is that cost-cutting initiatives are beginning to take effect," said Technology Analyst Bill Kreher of Edward Jones.
"The slowdown in PC demand affected laptop sales and thus revenue, but despite the difficult environment, the company's strategic plans are paying off. It shows that best-of-breed companies will be able to still grow through cost-cutting," Kreher added.
"We expect the challenging environment to continue," Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said during a conference call.
In one bright spot, Dell's consumer PC revenue increased 10 percent worldwide as unit shipments jumped 32 percent. Dell does not break out U.S. consumer sales, but Gladden said that "the U.S. was a strong part of the good performance."
However, Dell's consumer sales account for less than a fifth of the company's total, and the bright performance wasn't able to offset trouble in the corporate business. Dell also lacks the product diversity enjoyed by its biggest rival, Hewlett-Packard [HPQ
Loading...
()
], which this week posted stronger-than-expected preliminary results and forecast full-year profit above Wall Street estimates.
—Wire services contributed to this story.
Print
Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes