Dell Stock Jumps 10% After Hours on Blowout AI Quarter, Guide Raise
Dell Technologies stock jumped more than 10% in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The company posted adjusted earnings of $7.04 a share, well above the roughly $4.90 analysts expected.
Revenue climbed 58% from a year earlier to $46.97 billion. Shares changed hands near $469.66 shortly after the release, having closed the regular session down 6.98% at $424.20.
Why Dell Stock Sold Off Before the Beat
Sellers controlled the entire session before the numbers landed. Traders had positioned for a violent reaction in either direction.
Options expiring Friday implied an 11% move, a BeInCrypto Dell earnings options preview showed on Monday. The 10.59% after-hours swing landed close to that estimate.
Dell had also set a far lower bar for itself. Management guided in May to revenue of $44 billion to $45 billion and adjusted earnings of $4.80 a share.
Margins, rather than demand, drove the caution. Memory costs have risen this year, and AI servers earn thinner margins than storage or commercial personal computers.
AI Backlog Swells to $95 Billion as Dell Lifts Its Outlook
Sales of AI-optimized servers doubled year over year to $16.4 billion. Orders told a bigger story.
Dell booked $60.9 billion of AI orders during the quarter and closed it with a record $95 billion backlog. The figure stood at $51.3 billion three months earlier, when the company delivered a record first quarter beat.
$DELL delivered a stellar quarter and raised its FY27 guide well above Street estimates.Dell now sees revenue of $192B vs. $172.7B est., AI server revenue of $74B vs. $65.8B est., and adj. EPS of $25.50 vs. $18.90 est. 🟢🟢🟢AI backlog ended Q2 at a record $95B. https://t.co/kJlbA2aJx5 pic.twitter.com/wI0QWTiWuB
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) September 1, 2026
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
Demand, therefore, is still running well ahead of what Dell can physically ship.
Management answered by raising full-year targets for a second consecutive quarter. The company now points to roughly $192 billion in revenue and $25.50 in adjusted earnings. The prior view was $167 billion and $17.90.
AI server revenue is now guided near $74 billion, against $60 billion in May. For the third quarter, Dell flagged roughly $49 billion in revenue and $6.50 in adjusted earnings.
The tape has not fully priced any of that. At $469.66, the stock sits only about 3% above Monday’s $456.01 close. Most of the pop simply undid Tuesday’s slide.
That leaves the burden on the 4:30 p.m. Eastern call. Executives there face questions on memory supply and on how fast the backlog converts into shipments.
Dell’s 2026 stock surge has already carried shares from about $110 to a high of $514. The market now prices the company as an AI compounder that has to keep raising.
Disclaimer: The content presented above, whether from a third party or not, is considered as general advice only. CFD trading involves significant risk of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This article serves informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Consider your risk tolerance before trading.
