Recovering nicely
Dell announced its Q1 (feb-apr) financial results yesterday, and they revealed a year-one-year revenue jump of 21 percent, to nearly $15 billion, and a whopping 52 percent jump in net income, to $441 million.
Dell was especially pleased with its enterprise efforts, with combined revenue from servers, storage and services growing 38 percent to $4.2 billion. "Our strategy and the significant investments we're making to enhance our capabilities are providing more of the standards-based, flexible solutions that provide customers the highest value. These efforts are driving renewed Dell growth," said Michael Dell. "Consumer sales only comprise around a fifth of Dell's revenues.
Earlier in the week, Dell rival HP announced revenue of $30 billion for the same quarter - 13 percent up on a year ago. Profits were up 28 percent to $2.2 billion. The personal systems group saw revenue jump 20 percent and comprises a third of the total.
"HP had an exceptional quarter with strong performance across every region," said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and CEO. "We've built the best portfolio in the industry, and our customers are responding. We're winning in the marketplace, investing for the future and confident in the enormous opportunity that lies ahead." He also confirmed the Palm acquisition is as much about slates and web-connected printers as smartphones.
Lastly, a recent report shows that Apple's iPads are currently out-selling Macs in the US at 200,000 per week. Even allowing for the Apple factor, this implies pretty healthy end-user demand for the tablet/slate form factor.
Incidentally, MarketWatch has uncovered some information implying Steve Jobs, while still not short of a bob, robbed himself of $10 billion when he traded-in a bunch of stock options for a much smaller number with a lower purchase price back in 2003. Maybe he's not so infallible after all.
