Dell Computer offered some good news for the depressed tech sector by hitting analysts' expectations in its first quarter earnings announcement last night.
The Texas-based computer maker, which employs 5,700 in Ireland, said it had $462m in earnings, or 17 cents a share, in line with analysts' expectations. That was down, however, from the 19 cents per share reported for the same period last year.
However, Dell announced a 6% drop in its first quarter operating income to $588 million from $625 million.
The number one personal computer maker also warned that second quarter sales would decline between 3% and 5%. It added that its second quarter net operating margins would be flat to slightly down.
Earlier this month, the company said it was cutting up to 4,000 jobs, all of them in the US.
Dell's recent cost cutting measures have made it a stalwart in a sector that has seen heavy financial tolls for the likes of Hewlett-Packard, IBM and other computer makers. The company has also been waging an intense price war with its rivals in an effort to remain a market leader.
'We have one-tenth of the inventory of our closest competitor, and our operating expense as a percent of revenue is about one-half theirs, but our market share and operating margin increased sequentially,' said James Vanderslice, Dell president and chief operating officer in a statement. 'That's the power of the direct model.'
