Dell Technologies shares jumped about 39% in after-hours trading Thursday after first-quarter earnings far exceeded Wall Street estimates on booming demand for artificial intelligence servers.
Key Points:
- Dell's fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 88% to $43.8 billion, beating estimates by roughly $8 billion.
- Revenue from AI-optimized servers surged 757% from a year earlier to $16.1 billion.
- The company lifted its full-year revenue outlook to about $167 billion.
Dell Beats On AI Servers
The Round Rock, Texas, company reported adjusted earnings of $4.86 per share on revenue of $43.8 billion for its fiscal first quarter. Both figures topped analyst forecasts of about $2.99 a share and $35.5 billion in sales, one of its widest beats in quarters. On a GAAP basis, earnings reached $5.24 per share, up 282% from a year ago.
Demand for AI hardware powered the quarter, lifting total revenue 88% from a year earlier. Server sales tied to artificial intelligence rocketed 757% to $16.1 billion, while Dell booked $24.4 billion in fresh AI orders during the quarter.
The company also raised its outlook, now projecting full-year revenue near $167 billion for the period ending in January 2027 and second-quarter sales of $44 billion to $45 billion. About $60 billion of full-year revenue is expected from AI servers. Chief Executive Jeff Clarke said demand for AI systems shows no signs of cooling.
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Trump's Praise Adds Spotlight
The surge followed months of attention from President Donald Trump, who praised the company at a White House event on May 8 and urged Americans to buy Dell computers. Shares rose about 13% in the days after those remarks, and Thursday's after-hours pop was the stock's biggest since 2018.
Other tailwinds have fed the climb. The Pentagon awarded Dell a $9.7 billion contract on May 27, and the stock has now gained more than 150% in 2026. The figures underscore Dell's grip on the AI infrastructure trade, where server makers have pulled in some of the year's heaviest investor flows.
Dell Caps A 150% Run
Bitcoin (BTC) shows the limits of that political spotlight.
Trump has called the United States the crypto capital of the world, yet the token has drifted toward $73,000 this week, down from above $76,000 days earlier as ETF outflows and geopolitical tension pressured risk assets.
Dell spent the early months of 2026 in the red, pressured by tariff worries and sluggish PC sales.
The AI server boom has since flipped that story, turning the decades-old hardware maker into one of the year's standout stocks. The swing stands out among this year's big-tech turnarounds.
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