Dell Profit Flat As Sales Rise
Thursday May 17, 4:41 pm Eastern Time
<<NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) on Thursday reported flat first-quarter net income, as the No. 1 personal computer maker continued to lead the industry into a price war.
The Round Rock, Texas-based company reported net income of $462 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with $466 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier, and meeting the consensus of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Sales rose 10 percent to $8 billion.
``We delivered on the revenue and profit guidance we provided at the start of the quarter,'' said Michael Dell, the company's chairman and chief executive.
Dell President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Rollins said that aggressive pricing is continuing.
``Price competition in the marketplace is very intense, but it's been that way since the fourth quarter, and the preferences of customers are clearer than ever,'' Mr. Rollins said.
Despite falling prices, Dell's first-quarter gross margin of 18 percent was flat when compared with the previous quarter, helped by growth in sales of more powerful business computers and notebook computers.
Dell's shares closed at $25.88, up $0.50, on the Nasdaq before it announced the quarterly results.
The stock, which was the top performer of the S&P 500 in the 1990s, has underperformed that index by more than 40 percent since the beginning of 2000. It has underperformed other computer makers in the American Stock Exchange hardware index by less than 10 percent in the same timeframe.>> |
