Dell’s profit exceeds estimates

Dell Inc. reported quarterly profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates after business customers replaced aging PCs and expanded their data centers.

Excluding some costs, profit was 53 cents a share in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 28, Round Rock, Texas- based Dell said Tuesday. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had estimated 37 cents on average. Sales rose 5.3 percent to $15.7 billion, matching the projection.

Dell is getting more revenue from products and services for corporate data centers, part of a plan to double sales from that business to $30 billion in three years. It also got a boost from companies replacing older PCs with new models running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 software. That may have helped offset a broader slowdown in the industry, said Abhey Lamba, an analyst at ISI Group in New York.

“Given Dell’s exposure to corporate PC shipments, we believe the company benefitted from the acceleration in enterprise shipment growth during the quarter, despite lackluster performance by the PC industry,” Lamba said in a report earlier this month. He has a “hold” rating on Dell.

Dell shares jumped 6.8 percent to $14.86 in extended trading following the report. The shares, up 2.7 percent this year, had closed at $13.91 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In fiscal 2012, which ends in January, Dell expects sales to grow between 5 percent and 9 percent. That would represent $64.6 billion to $67 billion, compared with an average analyst projection of $64.4 billion.

Global PC shipments rose 3.1 percent last quarter, missing projections, as consumers held back on holiday purchases, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Dell ranked third in the industry, after Hewlett-Packard Co. and Acer Inc., Gartner said.

Dell’s net income almost tripled to $927 million, or 48 cents a share, from $334 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier.

The PC industry has been scrambling to fix a design flaw in one of Intel Corp.’s new chips. Intel, the world’s largest maker of computer processors, halted shipments of the product until later this month, when a new version will correct the malfunction.

Dell said that the Intel flaw affects four products sold under its XPS, Vostro and Alienware brands, and the company is working with customers who bought them.

Dell, which gets about 55 percent of its sales from desktop and notebook computers, is making acquisitions to diversify into data-center equipment and services. On Dec. 13, Dell agreed to buy data-storage supplier Compellent Technologies Inc. for $960 million.