Dell Inc.'s (DELL) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 31% as
the computer company recorded double-digit revenue declines from
its personal computer and mobility segments.
Dell has now posted five straight quarters of profit declines as
the PC market faces growing pressure from tablet computers, intense
price competition and macroeconomic uncertainty.
Two weeks ago, Dell agreed to be taken private by a group led by
founder Michael Dell in a deal valuing the computer giant at $24.4
billion. The company has said it can more easily make the necessary
changes to turn itself around without the scrutiny and limitations
of being a public company.
Dell said Tuesday it isn't providing guidance for fiscal 2014 or
the current quarter given its decisions to go private.
Dell, once the world's largest personal-computer maker, has
largely been sidelined as tablets and smartphones became the more
popular devices and PC sales shrank. In recent years, the company
has looked to move beyond its core PC business and expand into more
lucrative and high-margin businesses. To offset the slumping PC
business, Dell has been on an acquisition binge, adding a variety
of software, storage and networking tools.
In the latest quarter, Dell's revenue from its desktop personal
computer category slipped 14%. Revenue from the mobility category,
which includes notebook computers and other mobile devices, slipped
25%. Software and peripherals revenue was down 11%. Services
revenue slid 3.1%. Meanwhile, server and networking revenue
improved 18%.
For the quarter ended Feb. 1, Dell reported a profit of $530
million, or 30 cents a share, down from $764 million, or 43 cents a
share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related charges and
other items, per-share earnings fell to 40 cents from 51 cents.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected a per-share
profit of 39 cents.
Revenue totaled $14.31 billion, an 11% decline from a year
earlier, but up 4.3% sequentially.
Dell's downbeat outlook in November called for revenue growth
between 2% to 5% from the third quarter's revenue of $13.72
billion.
Gross margin widened to 21.7% from 21.1%.
The public-customer segment's revenue decreased 9.4% while the
large-enterprise-customer segment's revenue declined 6.6%. Revenue
in the consumer segment sank 24% in the latest period. Small- and
medium-business revenue was down 4.6%.
Shares were off by a penny to $13.81 after hours Tuesday. The
stock has jumped 51% over the past three months. Dell agreed to go
private at a price of $13.65 a share.
-Write to Nathalie Tadena at nathalie.tadena@dowjones.com
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