Dell Technologies (DELL) has reported mixed fourth-quarter 2024 financial results and provided forward guidance that disappointed Wall Street.
The maker of laptop computers and artificial intelligence (A.I.) servers announced earnings per share (EPS) of $2.68 U.S., which came in ahead of consensus estimates of $2.52 U.S.
However, revenue in the final quarter of last year totaled $23.90 billion U.S., which was below the consensus forecast of $24.55 billion U.S. Sales were up 7% from a year earlier.
Dell also provided soft forward guidance, saying it expects revenue in the current quarter of $22.50 billion U.S. to $23.50 billion U.S., which is below the $23.60 billion U.S. that Wall Street anticipated.
The company led by founder Michael Dell heavily promoted it’s A.I. products and sales in its earnings release.
Dell, which sells A.I. servers that run Nvidia (NVDA) microchips and processors, said it had $4.10 billion U.S. in backlogged A.I. server orders at the end of January this year.
Dell also said that it sold $10 billion U.S. of A.I.-optimized servers last year, and that it expects to sell $15 billion U.S. of A.I. servers in 2025.
Management said they continue to struggle with weak demand for their laptop computers following peak sales during the Covid-19 pandemic when people were working at home.
As a result, the company’s client solutions group, its biggest business unit, saw sales rise 5% to $11.88 billion U.S. in Q4 2024. That result was below the $11.98 billion U.S. expected by analysts.
Lastly, the company raised its dividend by 18% and announced a new $10 billion U.S. stock buyback authorization.
Dell’s stock has risen 16% over the past year to trade at $107.83 U.S. per share.
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