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Dell profits up 169 pct.
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February 25, 1997: 9:32 p.m. ET
Computer maker beats earnings forecasts, posts record revenues
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Dell Computer Corp. on Tuesday reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings surged 169 percent from year-earlier levels to reach $188 million, or $1.01 per share.
The results -- which compared with earnings of $70 million, or 35 cents per common share, during the same period last year -- far exceeded analyst expectations.
Wall Street had expected Dell to report per-share earnings of about 83 cents for the latest quarter.
News of the strong earnings, released after markets had closed, sent Dell shares up 7/8 to 73 in after-hours trading.
Dell said quarterly sales rose 56.7 percent from year-ago figures of $1.54 billion to reach a record $2.41 billion -- the 12th straight quarter that the Texas-based computer maker has posted record revenues.
For the fiscal year as a whole, Dell earned $518 million, or $2.70 per common share, compared with $272 million, or $1.34 a common share, a year earlier.
Fiscal-year revenues also improved to $7.8 billion from $5.3 billion a year earlier.
Company chief Michael Dell told CNNfn that his company enjoyed broad-based growth during the latest period.
"We saw strength in our servers, notebooks and Internet sales," Dell said during an appearance on CNN's MoneyLine with Lou Dobbs. "All the geographies were strong. I'd say we are firing on all cylinders."
The executive said server sales -- which grew to 6 percent of the company's revenues during the quarter -- accelerated a whopping 310 percent when compared to fiscal fourth-quarter 1996.
He also attributed much of the company's success to its direct-business approach.
While many PC makers rely heavily on catalogue sales, Dell employs representatives to conduct business with customers directly over the phone.
Michael Dell told CNN that his company intends to hire several thousand people this year to help sustain the firm's momentum.
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