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Dell: PC demand 'seems to have stabilised'

Erica Ogg CNET News

Published: 14 Jul 2009 11:54 BST

Dell hinted on Monday that the worst may be over regarding the lull in demand for its products.

Chief financial officer Brian Gladden said that although demand for Dell PCs, servers and services "seems to have stabilised", it is not consistent throughout all customer segments and geographic regions. In addition, he said that when the company reports its second-quarter earnings next month, its revenue will tick up slightly over the previous quarter.

That will be accompanied by a small decline in gross margins, which suggests a more competitive pricing environment for PC components.

A sign that businesses — Dell's best customers — are starting to spend money on IT again is good news for the whole industry. But it is particularly important to Dell because its bottom line has taken a huge hit since last year's global economic meltdown. The company has been looking to reboot its business by reorganising, reassessing product lines and, chiefly, cutting costs.

Dell will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on Friday morning in Austin, where chief executive Michael Dell and Gladden will no doubt be questioned about their plan to take advantage of any kind of resurgent demand for Dell products.

Credit: Dell: PC demand 'seems to have stabilized' from CNET News