Counting its losses
No amount of Adamo sexiness was saving Dell from dire financial results on Thursday, as the computer giant admitted it had suffered a 54 percent drop in net income since last year as well as a 15 per cent slump in revenue, falling a full five cents a share below analyst estimates.
Dell said its net income for Q3 was $337 million, or 17 cents a share, down from the $727 million, or 37 cents a share, it earned in Q308. Dell's revenue fell to $12.9 billion from $15.16 billion, below Wall Street's estimates of $13.18 billion.
The firm also only managed to scrape an earning of 23 cents a share this quarter, coming in below analyst predictions of 28 cents a share.
Of course, Dell blamed the bum economy and Microsoft Vista, while Michael Dell tried to persuade analysts and press things would likely be looking up soon as the enterprise segment resurrected itself like a phoenix from the flames with a copy of Windows 7 Enterprise clutched in its beak.
Dell's chief financial officer, Brian T. Gladden, also did his best to rally up optimism, noting "We are seeing improvement in underlying demand trends in a number of areas." These areas are enterprise equipment and the good old Christmas shopping crowd.
