Dell profit beats market forecasts

DALLAS -- Dell Inc. said Thursday that its profit and sales grew in its fiscal first quarter, beating Wall Street expectations and signaling that the computer maker's turnaround efforts may be paying off.

For the three months ended May 2, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. earned $784 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $756 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Dell says its revenue jumped 9 percent to $16.08 billion from $14.72 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 34 cents per share on sales of $15.68 billion.

The company said strong growth of commercial and consumer products and services and lower operating costs as a percentage of sales helped drive results.

Dell is trying to cut costs by $3 billion while also chasing Hewlett-Packard Co. in worldwide shipments of personal computers, a category it once led.

The company reported that worldwide notebook computer shipments rose 43 percent from a year ago.

Chief Financial Officer Donald J. Carty said the company has cut 7,000 jobs from a year ago, including 3,700 during the past quarter, while adding about 2,700 employees through acquisitions.