NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dell Computer Corp. said Thursday that earnings in its latest quarter rose 31 percent as the world's No. 1 supplier of personal computers continued to steal market share amid a tough time for the computer business.

Looking ahead, Dell, one of the few large technology stocks that's higher this year, said current-quarter profits should meet and may even beat forecasts.

The company said it earned $561 million, or 21 cents a share, in its fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 1. That's up 31 percent from net income of $429 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 22 percent to $9.144 billion at Dell. The figures were in line with the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call.

"All our businesses are doing exceptionally well in an extremely challenging environment," CEO Michael Dell told CNNfn's Money & Markets.

Dell builds computers after they are ordered, reducing inventory costs that rivals must bear. Two rivals, Compaq Computer and Hewlett-Packard, completed a contentious merger this year, a period when Dell endured no such distractions.

Looking ahead, Dell said it expects current-quarter earnings per share of 23 cents, meeting the consensus forecast. Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to rise about 20 percent, to nearly $9.7 billion, Dell said. That's also in line.

On a conference call with investors, Dell Chief Financial Officer James M. Schneider said this quarter's earnings per share could hit 24 cents.

After rising in the regular session, shares of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates) fell 83 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $30.11 in after-hours trading Thursday, narrowing their year-to-date gain to 9.4 percent.

CEO Michael Dell talks about earnings and how his company gained market share in the third quarter. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"Guidance was more cautious" than some expectations, Andy Neff, an analyst at Bear Stearns, said in an e-mail, according to Reuters. Neff said there were unpublished expectations for revenue of about $9.9 billion.

Still, Dell's stock gain stands out during a year when the Nasdaq composite index has fallen 28 percent. Last month Dell raised its estimates for the latest quarter, a period when few technology companies issued good news.

"Dell is clearly the king of the hill when it comes to the PC industry, but the PC industry itself is under stress now," Roger Kay, director of client computing at IDC, told CNNfn's Street Sweep.

The PC market has long been struggling amid slack demand as large corporations and consumers alike have pared back their spending on PCs in the face of a sluggish and uncertain economy.

During the latest quarter, Dell said it had a 28 percent year-over-year rise in computer shipments, compared with a 2 percent increase for the rest of the industry.

Dell overtook Hewlett-Packard as the world's No. 1 supplier of personal computers during the third quarter, a distinction H-P had held until this year's merger of H-P and Compaq, according to industry data released last month.

Dell has been trying to expand into storage, servers and printers. Dell has also been working to expand overseas. Computer shipments to China, France, Germany and Japan rose a combined 30 percent in the quarter, the company said.

Dell said sales of external storage systems increased 73 percent in the quarter, while sales of its Dell Precision workstations increased 27 percent worldwide.