(By Balachander) Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) shares retreated 3.73 percent in extended trading after the PC maker reported quarterly revenue that trailed market expectations amid drop in gross margins.
On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share declined 7 percent to 50 cents from 54 cents, yet beat market expectations of 45 cents. GAAP earnings fell 18 percent to $732 million.
Revenue decreased 8 percent to $14.48 billion, more than consensus estimate of a drop of 6.40 percent. Region wise, Asia-Pacific and Japan revenue fell 12 percent. EMEA revenue dropped 7 percent, and Americas was down 6 percent.
Dell has been losing business to rival HP (HPQ) and Lenovo despite improvements in the global PC shipments. The company continues to shift away from lower end PC's and towards the high-margin software, security and cloud computing businesses.
Last month, Dell agreed to acquire Quest Software Inc. (NASDAQ:QSFT) for $28.00 per share or $2.4 billion in cash, weeks after Insight Venture Partners Tuesday sweetened its bid for the IT services company to $25.75 per share.
Gross margin contracted to 22.6 percent from 23.2 percent on a non-GAAP basis for the second quarter.
Looking ahead for the third quarter, Dell forecasts revenue decline of 2 percent to 5 percent from second-quarter levels.
For the full year, Dell modified its non-GAAP earnings per share guidance to at least $1.70, while analysts' expect $1.91 a share.
In the preceding first quarter, Dell's earnings fell 33 percent to $635 million on a 4 percent revenue decline to $14.42 billion.
The stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range between $11.39 and $18.36, ended Tuesday's regular trading at $12.34.