Financial News

Dell is moving deeper into the core of information technology with its own intellectual property that delivers efficient, flexible and differentiated IT solutions to millions of customers worldwide, Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, said today in advance of the company’s analysts meeting on Wednesday.

Dell’s mid-market design focus provides open systems that are highly capable, affordable and flexible enough to scale to meet the needs of large enterprises, public institutions and mid-size businesses. That focus is competitively differentiated and creates value for customers based on a set of solutions domains: next-generation computing solutions and intelligent data management; services, security and cloud; and, end-user computing.

“Over the past year we have made great progress towards our strategy,” Mr. Dell said. “Dell today has its strongest-ever portfolio of solutions, intellectual property and differentiated products, backed by new skills and capabilities in our global team. We also have fundamentally redefined our operations to optimize our global value chain and it is showing in our financial results.”

Brian Gladden, Dell CFO, outlined the key priorities underway to allow the company to deliver on its long-term value creation framework of 5-7 percent revenue growth, GAAP operating income of more than 7 percent and cash flow from operations exceeding net income. Those priorities include accelerated enterprise growth, disciplined cost management and operational improvements, and continued profitable growth in laptop and desktop products. Over the past four quarters, Dell’s revenue has exceeded the long-term growth goal, GAAP operating income has been 6.7 percent and cash flow has been $4.2 billion, which was 1.3 times net income.

Mr. Gladden also reported that, fiscal year-to-date, Dell has repurchased $1.6 billion in stock and expects to repurchase more than $2 billion in stock during the current fiscal year.

“Dell is committed to a capital allocation strategy that includes investments in developing and acquiring new intellectual property, enhancing our sales capabilities and in our ongoing stock-repurchase program,” Mr. Gladden said.

More than 150 analysts and investment bankers have registered for the meeting, which will be webcast live and be available on replay after the event. To view the live webcast of the meeting starting at 7 a.m. CDT or the replay, go to www.dell.com/investor.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

Special Note on Forward Looking Statements:

Statements in this press release that relate to future results and events (including statements about Dell’s future financial and operating performance, planned stock repurchases, acquisition integration progress, services performance, servers product pricing and mix, as well as the financial guidance with respect to revenue and non-GAAP operating income) are forward-looking statements and are based on Dell's current expectations. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “confidence,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “will” and “would,” or similar expressions. Actual results and events in future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements because of a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including: intense competition; Dell’s cost-cutting measures; Dell’s ability to effectively manage the growth of its distribution capabilities and add to its product and services offerings; Dell’s ability to effectively manage periodic product and services transitions; weak global economic conditions and instability in financial markets; Dell’s ability to generate substantial non-U.S. net revenue; weak economic conditions and additional regulation affecting Dell’s financial services activities; Dell’s ability to achieve favorable pricing from its vendors; Dell’s ability to deliver consistent quality products and services; Dell’s reliance on third-party suppliers for product components, including reliance on several single-sourced or limited-sourced suppliers; successful implementation of Dell’s acquisition strategy; Dell’s product, customer, and geographic sales mix, and seasonal sales trends; access to the capital markets by Dell or its customers; loss of government contracts; the risk of temporary suspension or debarment from contracting with U.S. federal, state and local governments as a result of settlements of an SEC investigation by Dell and Dell’s Chairman and CEO; customer terminations of or pricing changes in services contracts, or Dell’s failure to perform as it anticipates at the time it enters into services contracts; Dell’s ability to obtain licenses to intellectual property developed by others on commercially reasonable and competitive terms; information technology and manufacturing infrastructure disruptions or breaches of data security; Dell’s ability to hedge effectively its exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates; counterparty default; unfavorable results of legal proceedings; expiration of tax holidays or favorable tax rate structures, or unfavorable outcomes in tax audits and other compliance matters; Dell’s ability to attract, retain, and motivate key personnel; Dell’s ability to maintain strong internal controls; changing environmental and safety laws; the effect of armed hostilities, terrorism, natural disasters, and public health issues; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in Dell’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended Jan. 28, 2011. In particular, Dell’s expectations with regard to revenue and non-GAAP operating income for the full fiscal year ending Feb. 3, 2012 assume, among other matters, that there is no significant decline in economic conditions generally or demand growth specifically, no significant change in product mix patterns, Dell’s ability to realize its pipeline opportunities, no supply chain disruptions, and no significant adverse component pricing or supply movements. Dell assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements.

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