Dell doesn't wow Wall Street

Posted Nov 29th 2007 6:00PM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Shares of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) fell in after-hours trading after the computer maker reported third-quarter earnings that didn't impress Wall Street.

Net income rose 27% to $766 million, or 34 cents, on and sales rose 8.5% to $15.6`5 billion. Excluding one-time items, profit was 35 cents meeting analysts' forecasts. The revenue figure beat analysts' forecasts of $15.36 billion.

Investors appear to be reacting to the 6% decline in Dell's U..S. consumer business which underscores the challenge the Round Rock. Texas-based company faces in recapturing the top spot in the PC market from Hewlett-Packard.Corp. (NASDAQ: HPQ). Analysts also may have expected better margin performance.

Moreover, the outlook was also a bit downbeat in the earnings release.

"The company continues to focus on strategic priorities that will provide better value to customers while driving a more optimal balance of liquidity, profitability and growth," the company said. "As the company executes against these priorities it will continue to incur costs as it restructures to improve productivity and execution, reduce headcount where appropriate, and invest in infrastructure and acquisitions. These actions, which the company believes are necessary to drive long-term sustainable value, may adversely impact the company's performance."

Tags: dell, hpq, hqp, michael dell, MichaelDell, pc markets, PcMarkets