If the path to greatness is paved with potholes, why has the road to Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) been so smooth? The computer specialist has been a consistent all-terrain grower, even as many of its peers have moved on to pitch everything from digital downloads to plasma television sets.
Last night was no different as the company produced yet another solid quarterly report. Dell earned $0.28 a share on a 21% surge in revenue. While higher memory prices kept operating profits from keeping pace with the top line, net profits did just that in rising by 22%.
The good times should continue as the company expects shipments, revenue, and earnings to all grow by better than 20% in the current quarter.
The personal computer industry continues to improve. Though Dell was quick to brag that it grew its shipments by 25% while the sector as a whole mustered unit growth of just 14%, think about it: Double-digit growth in demand should spell good times for all of the sector's major players, even if Dell is accumulating incremental slices of market share.
Naturally, that upbeat outlook includes props to fellow titan Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), but that also has to be good news for smaller manufacturers like Gateway (NYSE: GTW) as well as operating systems behemoth Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).
One can draw up a list of peripheral makers that look to benefit from the industry's revival. Peeking inside the box, chip makers Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) also stand to reap hearty rewards.
Also encouraging is that Dell's strength was global in scope. Domestic shipments rose by just 18%, meaning that the company saved its healthiest bursts of growth for the overseas market.
And let's not knock Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Gateway for their forays into new product markets because Dell, too, has diversified. This past quarter, just half of the company's revenue came from its flagship desktop computers. However, Dell's expansion has been in logical areas like notebooks, servers, and printers.
So, Dell is doing just fine. It's fitting that the company has been so consistent that the market's first reaction to its growing as promised found the shares trading lower. Oh, what a spoiled lot we've become. It's just good to know that Dell is holding the road map. Someone has to know how to get to where we're going.
What is Dell's secret to success? Why can't others ape its direct model more effectively? How well will Dell do once corporate spending improves? All this and more -- in the Dell discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no problems with the mixed marriage of his HP desktop projecting on his Dell monitor. Still, he does not own shares in any companies mentioned in this story.
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