Topline
Dell’s stock reached a new all-time intraday high Wednesday, one day after the tech company nearly doubled its long-term guidance on increased demand for its data center offerings crucial to training and running artificial intelligence.
Dell boosted its guidance Tuesday. (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Dell shares were up 7.6% at $162.41 as of 2:05 p.m. EDT, the stock’s highest position of the year, and have traded as high as $166.10 on Wednesday.
The company’s stock is slated to close at an all-time high Wednesday, besting its previous all-time high of $160.18 recorded last year.
The rise in shares comes a day after Dell boosted its long-term guidance for annual revenue growth from 3-4% to 7-9% and raised its yearly earnings per share growth to 15%, up from its previous target of 8%.
Dell cited its “well positioned” portfolio that includes personal computers and data center infrastructure, the latter of which is needed to meet the operating and training needs of the AI boom.
The Nasdaq surged nearly 1% as of Wednesday afternoon, while the S&P 500 jumped a half percent.
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Crucial Quote
“Customers are hungry for AI and the compute, storage and networking we provide to deploy intelligence at scale. We’re successfully translating that demand into growth and strong cash flow that we’ve largely returned to shareholders,” Dell CEO Michael Dell said in a statement.
Tangent
President Donald Trump identified Michael Dell along with billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch as part of the “four to five absolutely world class investors” involved in the deal to bring a portion of Chinese-owned social media app TikTok under U.S. ownership.
Key Background
Dell’s servers and networking business jumped 69% year-over-year, according to its second quarter earnings, bringing in $12.9 billion in revenue. The company said in August it planned to ship $20 billion worth of AI servers in the upcoming fiscal year. Dell has partnered with chip designer Nvidia to help power its AI servers and has customers including OpenAI, Elon Musk’s xAI startup and cloud computing company CoreWeave. Dell also has contracts with the Energy Department (powering the agency’s next supercomputer) and G42, an AI firm based in the United Arab Emirates. Total revenue for the company reached $29.8 billion in its second quarter, a 19% increase from the same period last year.
Further Reading
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Now Connects With Third-Party Apps Like Spotify And Zillow: Here’s The Latest In The AI Arms Race (Forbes)