Dell 4Q Rises On Consumer SalesDell 4Q Rises On Consumer Sales

Surprising strength in demand for consumer PCs helped prop up Dell Computer's fourth-quarter revenue, and the leading PC maker met analysts' expectations for its fourth quarter.

Dell on Thursday reported a profit of $456 million, or 17 cents per share, for the quarter ended Feb. 1, on revenue of $8.1 billion. During the same quarter a year ago, Dell earned $434 million, or 16 cents a share, on revenue of $8.67 billion. For the 2002 fiscal year as a whole, net earnings were $1.25 billion, compared with $2.18 billion in 2001.

During a conference call with analysts, CFO James Schneider said consumer sales lifted the company's performance. U.S. home PC sales rose more than 50% from the previous quarter. "The demand environment in the U.S. was better than we expected," he said.

But there may be rougher waters ahead. Schneider expects industry PC shipments will decline 10% next quarter, and Dell's unit shipments--and PC-related revenue--will drop between 3% and 5%.

Technology Business Research analyst Brooks Gray says Dell faces a challenging year. "It was the consumer demand that really was the story for the quarter," he says. "But that extra boost they got this quarter was a direct result of the consumer buying season. This is their last quarter where they're going to see that."