Dell has reported a higher quarterly operating profit, but slow holiday sales and a new growth target that disappointed Wall Street sent its shares down 3 per cent.
Net income at the world's largest personal computer maker fell 11 per cent to $667 million, or 26 cents a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter ended January 28th, compared with $749 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.
But excluding a $280 million tax charge, profit rose to $947 million, or 37 cents a share. The charge will let it pay a special low tax rate of 5 per cent to repatriate $4.1 billion in profits earned overseas.
Revenue, dominated by sales to businesses, rose 17 per cent to $13.46 billion from $11.51 billion.
Profit was roughly in line with Wall Street expectations, including a lower-than-expected tax rate and excluding the one-time tax charge, while revenue lagged the $13.55 billion analyst consensus, according to Reuters Estimates.
International and corporate sales were stronger, on average, while US consumer sales grew only 10 per cent amid tough pricing competition that put pressure on profits.
But shares of Dell fell 3.2 per cent to $40.23 in after-hours trade on the Inet electronic brokerage from their Nasdaq close of $41.57.
For Dell's fiscal first quarter ending in April, the company said it expects a profit of 37 cents a share and revenue up around 16 per cent to $13.4 billion, with product shipments climbing 21 per cent.
Analysts had been expecting a first-quarter profit of 36 cents a share on revenue of $13.5 billion.