Dell may be on its way back after a couple of lousy years. The No. 2 PC-maker reports earnings today, and investors will be watching closely to see what the company has to say.
Dell's last quarterly report was surprisingly strong. Its stock has been doing pretty well over the past six months. "We believe there is good potential for Dell to beat consensus margin expectations over the next several quarters," FBR Capital Markets equity analyst Clay Sumner said in a research note.
Dell is aggressively targeting rival, Hewlett-Packard, says tech analyst Richard Shim with researcher IDC. The company has been churning out dozens of new products, such as this new line-up of laptops.
But will it be enough? Once-dominant Dell has struggled in recent years because it missed a big shift in the market. Dell used to sell most of its computers via Internet or catalog, which saved money. There was no need to carry lots of inventory or pay for retail space.
That was a great model when desktops were king, and businesses bought most PCs. But now the consumer market is strong, and laptops are far outselling desktops. Most shoppers want to physically hold a laptop before buying it, which put Dell at a disadvantage.
Dell has changed its ways, and now sells PCs in Best Buy and other stores. It's launching consumer-friendly products, such as laptops in bright colors. But in the first quarter it had about 15% of the worldwide PC market, compared to 18% for HP, says researcher Gartner. We'll see what those numbers look like after Dell's report comes out.
By Michelle Kessler
Photo: Michael Dell (Manish Swarup, AP)
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