Dell reported a 31-percent drop in profit, hurt by a shrinking consumer business, but the results topped analysts' expectations. This came just over a week after founder Michael Dell offered to take the company private.
Share of the world's No. 3 PC maker rose slightly, topping Michael Dell's offer price of $13.65 a share, after the earnings report. What is Dell stock doing now? Click here for the latest after-hours quote.
Founder Michael Dell, who owns about 14 percent of the company, has bid $24.4 billion to buy it out but at least four of Dell's largest investors have opposed the deal.
Dell's net income dropped 31 percent to $530 million, or 30 cents a share, in the fourth quarter from $764 million, or 43 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding items, earnings fell to 40 cents per share from 51 cents a share a year ago.
Revenue declined 11 percent to $14.31 billion from $16.03 billion.
Analysts had expected Dell to report earnings excluding items of 39 cents a share on $14.12 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates.
Dell was hurt by a deteriorating consumer business, which saw a 24-percent decline during the quarter.
As for its enterprise business, revenue from large businesses fell 7 percent, while revenue from small and medium size businesses dropped 5 percent. Public revenue fell 9 percent.
Revenue also declined in its global units, down 14 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 10 percent in the Americas and 9 percent in Asia-Pacific and Japan.
The company said due to its Feb. 5 announcement for plans to take Dell private, it was not issuing an outlook for the first quarter or fiscal 2014.