FORTUNE 500

Our annual ranking of America's largest corporations

38 of 500

38. Dell

Rank: 38 (Previous rank: 33)
CEO: Michael S. Dell
Compare tool: Dell vs. Top 10

The Dell model -- lean inventory, just-what-the-customer-wants manufacturing, skip-the-middleman marketing -- was the stuff of business legend. No longer.

Global U.S.-based competitors either matched Dell's efficiency (Hewlett Packard) and or bested it in innovation (Apple) while a slew of Asian manufacturers have beaten Dell to the low-cost punch.

The computer giant has responded by boosting its slate of potentially lucrative corporate computing services with the $3.9-billion purchase of Perot Data Systems. For now, Dell is stuck with falling sales and eroding margins. Hardly model behavior. --A.L.

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Key financials	$ millions	% change from 2008
Revenues	52,902.0	-13.4
Profits	1,433.0	-42.2
Assets	33,652.0	—
Stockholders' equity	5,641.0	—
Market value (3/26/2010)	29,326.7	—

Profits as % of
Revenues	2.7
Assets	4.3
Stockholders' equity	25.4

Earnings per share
2009 $	0.73
% change from 2008	-41.6
1999-2009 annual growth rate %	1.8

Total return to investors	%
2009	40.2
1999-2009 annual rate	-11.9

Industry: Computers, Office Equipment

Rank	Company	500 rank	Revenues ($ millions)
1	Hewlett-Packard	10	114,552.0
2	Dell	38	52,902.0
3	Apple	56	36,537.0


4	Xerox	152	15,179.0
5	Sun Microsystems	204	11,449.0
6	Pitney Bowes	375	5,569.2
7	NCR	451	4,612.0

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Issue date: May 3, 2010.

Acquired Perot Systems (2008 rank: 723), Nov. 3, 2009.
Figures are for fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2010.

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