Dell Technologies Shares Slump 17% in Premarket Trading

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Dell Technologies shares (DELL) fell about 17% in premarket trading on Friday, as the PC and server maker expects significant AI investments to impact its quarterly profit. Dell is on track to lose more than $17 billion in market value if premarket losses hold. The stock has more than doubled this year. Companies like Dell have been investing heavily in expensive hardware to build advanced servers capable of processing complex artificial intelligence tasks as more businesses adopt the technology. High costs associated with in-demand AI servers are also expected to hurt the company's annual margin.

The company expects adjusted gross margin rate to decline about 150 basis points in fiscal 2025. It forecasts adjusted profit per share of $1.65, plus or minus 10 cents, for the second quarter, versus LSEG estimates of $1.84 at the time Dell reported results on Thursday. Morningstar analysts wrote in a note that AI-server sales continue to contribute only a small percentage to the firm's top line and are margin-dilutive.

Revenue from the company's mainstay client solutions group, which includes its personal computer business, was flat, with the consumer sub-segment down 15%. Dell has turned to pricing its models competitively in the consumer PC segment as the PC market emerges from a years-long slump.

Dell (DELL) provided guidance for the second quarter, the full 2025 fiscal year, and the infrastructure solution group (ISG) segment. CFO Yvonne McGill said Dell expects second-quarter revenue to be between $23.5 billion and $24.5 billion, slightly above analysts' estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Dell (DELL) raised its full-year outlook to between $93.5 billion and $97.5 billion, up from the range of $91 billion to $95 billion provided the quarter prior.

Dell's AI server backlog is primarily Nvidia-based, with H100 availability being better, H200 supply expected to improve in the second half of the year, and B200, Nvidia's Blackwell server, now in production. Dell (DELL) executives reassured investors that the company could be well-positioned to gain as enterprise customers integrate AI, with Clarke stating that Dell is "uniquely positioned to help customers with artificial intelligence" and noting that "strong AI momentum continues."