Dell Technologies delivered an explosive fiscal second-quarter report on Tuesday, with artificial intelligence infrastructure demand pushing results far beyond Wall Street expectations and sparking a sharp after-hours rebound in its stock.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $7.04 per share on revenue of $46.97 billion, easily surpassing analyst forecasts of about $4.92 per share and $44.92 billion. Revenue jumped 58% year over year, while net income climbed to $4.13 billion from $1.16 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The standout was Dell's AI server business. Dell booked a record $60.9 billion in AI server orders during the quarter and generated $16.4 billion in AI-optimized server revenue, doubling from the prior year. The company exited July with a record $95 billion AI backlog. Its AI infrastructure customer base now exceeds 6,500 customers, with roughly 3,300 added over the past three quarters. Over the past 12 months, Dell converted $131.7 billion of AI demand into orders, while its pipeline remains several times larger than the backlog.
That momentum prompted management to raise its fiscal 2027 AI-optimized server revenue forecast to $74 billion from $60 billion. The company also lifted full-year revenue guidance to $192 billion, up from $167 billion, and raised adjusted EPS guidance to $25.50.
Dell also showed the AI boom can boost profitability. Infrastructure Solutions Group operating income surged 225% to $4.78 billion, with operating margin climbing to 15% from 8.8% a year earlier. Infrastructure revenue reached $31.8 billion, including $10.5 billion from traditional servers and networking and $4.9 billion from storage.
“IT environments have shifted from cost centers to value drivers that fuel growth and competitive advantage,” said Jeff Clarke, Dell's chief operating officer. Clarke added that the company raised its revenue outlook because AI momentum is accelerating.
Dell shares had closed Tuesday at $425, down nearly 7% during regular trading. The stock then surged as much as 10% in after-hours trading to about $467, erasing the earlier decline. The rebound reflected both the earnings beat and the sharply higher guidance. Dell entered the report up more than 230% year to date and trading around 20.3 times forward earnings, well above its five-year average of 10.9 times.
The results also lifted sentiment across AI hardware peers. Hewlett Packard Enterprise moved higher in after-hours trading, while Super Micro Computer and Cisco Systems have recently reported strong results tied to AI infrastructure demand.
