Dell Technologies on Tuesday forecast fourth-quarter revenue and profit that fell short of Wall Street expectations, despite the company’s optimistic comments on AI sales growth. The PC maker reported quarterly results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ expectations for earnings per share but were weak on overall sales.

Shares fell 10% in after-hours trading.

Here’s how Dell performed in its fiscal third quarter compared to LSEG consensus estimates for the quarter ended November 1:

• Earnings per share: $2.15 adjusted versus $2.06 expected
• revenue: $24.4 billion versus $24.67 billion expected

Net income rose 12% to $1.12 billion, or $1.58 per share, compared with about $1 billion, or $1.36 per share, in the year-ago period. Total revenue rose about 10% from $22.25 billion a year ago.

Dell said it expects fourth-quarter revenue between $24 billion and $25 billion, while LSEG expected $25.57 billion. The company said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $2.50, compared to expectations of $2.65 per share.

The company’s shares have risen 86% so far in 2024 as investors realize it is one of the most important companies selling tools and systems for artificial intelligence developers.

Dell is a top provider of computer clusters needed to develop and deploy artificial intelligence, particularly computers based on it Nvidia Chips. It competes with other server manufacturers such as Super micro And HPEas well as manufacturers in Asia.

Demand for Nvidia’s AI accelerators remains high from cloud providers, enterprises and government institutions, which often purchase systems with tens of thousands of AI chips installed. Dell sells the finished systems.

This year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang named Dell and its founder Michael Dell as contacts for ordering its new Blackwell AI chips.

“AI is a huge opportunity for us and shows no signs of slowing down,” Jeff Clarke, Dell’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Dell’s AI server revenue is reported in the company’s Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), which includes AI servers, storage, networking components and traditional servers. Group revenue rose 34%, driven primarily by AI sales, to $11.4 billion.

The strongest part of Dell’s ISG business was its servers and networks subsidiary, which includes AI systems. Sales rose 58% to $7.4 billion. Dell shipped $2.9 billion in AI servers during the quarter, and the company said customers booked $3.6 billion in future AI server orders during the quarter.

The company said increased orders of AI servers boosted “double-digit” demand for its traditional servers, which are less power-hungry and based on CPU chips from Intel or AMD and can free up space or power in data centers for companies that invest a lot in their AI infrastructure.

The company’s computer storage systems grew less than servers, rising 4% to $4 billion. The entire ISG unit is more profitable thanks to the sale of more expensive AI systems.

Dell’s Client Solutions Group, which sells PCs and laptops to consumers and businesses, fell 1% year over year to $12.1 billion.

While commercial customers purchasing PCs for their workforce increased 3% annually to $10.1 billion, the company’s sales of PCs to consumers fell 18% annually to $2 billion.

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