Dell Reports Climbing Sales Amid Plan to Go Public Again

Dell reported growing sales and raised its outlook for the year in the midst of its $21.7 billion plan to return to public markets, according to Bloomberg.

Second-quarter revenue increased 18 percent to $22.9 billion in the period ended Aug. 3, the company said in a statement. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization climbed 13 percent to $2.46 billion. For fiscal 2019, Dell now expects adjusted revenue of as much as $92 billion and adjusted net income of as much as $5.3 billion.

Dell’s broad product portfolio spanning hardware and some software has helped the company sign more expansive deals with corporate customers. The company’s server and storage hardware division led sales gains in the most recent period, growing 24 percent to $9.2 billion.

The strong performance in the second fiscal quarter may boost CEO Michael Dell’s efforts to shepherd the hardware maker to a public listing, five years after taking it private. To bolster growth, Dell has revamped its lineup of personal computers and sought closer product tie-ups with fast-growing software maker VMware. The efforts, aided by a favorable environment for corporate information technology spending, seem to be paying off.

Dell has sought to improve its profits in a bid to service its total debt, which stood at more than $46 billion, excluding VMware and Pivotal, according to a regulatory filing. Much of the debt stems from the company’s $67 billion takeover of EMC in 2016. Dell’s income excluding some items jumped 21 percent to $1.3 billion in the quarter. Under generally accepted accounting principles, the company lost $461 million last quarter.

The earnings release marks investors’ last opportunity to see whether Dell is on track to meet its robust sales expectations before voting on the company’s proposal to buy out its tracking stock, DVMT, in October. Dell will host an analyst meeting Sept. 18 to tout its strategy and review its finances.