Dell $DELL ( ▲ 5.83% ) jumped early Thursday after dropping a Q3 report that was a touch light on revenue but came with a Q4 outlook strong enough to overpower any nitpicks.
The company posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $2.59 per share, beating expectations for $2.47. Revenue came in at $27.01 billion, just under the $27.15 billion Wall Street was looking for. The real driver, though, was guidance. Dell told investors to expect Q4 earnings of about $3.50 per share and revenue of roughly $31.5 billion, both comfortably above analyst forecasts. Full-year sales guidance also came in higher at $111.7 billion.
Dell has tied its future tightly to the AI server boom, which helped it rebound from the tariff-driven selloff earlier this year. But the rally has cooled lately as investors worry that tight supply of key components like memory chips could squeeze margins. Even so, Dell headed into the report up more than 9 percent on the year, and today’s guidance helped refocus attention on the company’s AI tailwinds rather than its cost pressures.