Dell Technologies (DELL) shares are rising Friday after the company posted one of the most surprising profits Wall Street has seen from a hardware maker in years.
In the first quarter, the multinational generated almost $44 billion in revenue, beating the consensus by more than $8 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $4.86 were also well above the $2.96 that analysts had forecast.
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Compared to the beginning of this year, DELL shares are now up more than 200%.
Is Dell Stock Worth Buying After First Quarter Earnings?
If we leave aside the staggering numbers in the headlines, the story contained in Dell’s quarterly publication gets even better.
The company booked $24.4 billion in orders for artificial intelligence (AI) servers and emerged from the first quarter with a record order backlog of $51.3 billion, providing a guaranteed revenue runway that extends through fiscal 2028.
AI-optimized server revenue of $16.1 billion, an exciting 757% year-over-year increase, reflects a business that is not only riding the wave of artificial intelligence, but has become the very infrastructure on which the wave runs.
On Thursday, management also raised its full-year AI-related sales outlook to $60 billion, which would represent a 144% increase compared to the company’s fiscal 2026.
DELL stock is also rising because a record first-quarter operating cash flow of $4.1 billion reinforces that the company has definitely transitioned from a PC-era legacy player to an AI infrastructure titan.
BofA Sees Huge Upside in DELL Stock
Bank of America senior analyst Wamsi Mohan responded to Dell’s Q1 release with a massive price target increase to $500, indicating a possible upside of another 22% from here.
In his research note, Mohan outlined a multi-layered growth thesis that extends well beyond the current AI server supercycle and encompasses “intelligent security systems for workloads of cloud solution providers and agent enterprises.”
According to the BofA expert, strong execution and “increased Dell IP engagement in storage” could drive the company’s stock price even higher as the year progresses.
Mohan is convinced that we are still in the “early stages of enterprise AI adoption,” suggesting that the first-quarter numbers are not the peak, but rather the foundation for a compound multi-year story that can drive DELL stock to new highs over the next 12 months.
