(By Balaseshan) Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) reported a 47 percent drop in quarterly earnings due to lower revenue across its units and regions. Results trailed market expectations and the company sees challenging global macro-economic environment to continue in the fourth quarter.
On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share plunged 28 percent to 39 cents from 54 cents, missing market expectations by a penny. GAAP earnings dropped 47 percent to $475 million.
Revenue decreased 11 percent to $13.72 billion, more than consensus estimate of a drop of 9.50 percent. Region wise, Asia-Pacific and Japan revenue fell 11 percent. EMEA revenue dropped 15 percent, and Americas was down 9 percent.
Dell has been losing business to rival HP (HPQ) and Lenovo despite improvements in 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.
Gross margin contracted to 22.0 percent from 23.1 percent on a non-GAAP basis for the third quarter.
Looking ahead for the fourth quarter, Dell forecasts a revenue decline of 2 percent to 5 percent from third-quarter levels. Dell sees the challenging global macro-economic environment continuing in the fourth quarter, which will continue to impact the company's results.
For the full year, Dell maintains its non-GAAP earnings per share guidance of at least $1.70, while analysts' expect $1.73 a share.
In the preceding second quarter, Dell's earnings fell 18 percent to $732 million on an 8 percent revenue decline to $14.48 billion.
The stock, which has been trading in a 52-week range between $9.11 and $18.36, ended Thursday's regular session down 0.21 percent at $9.56.