Dell Shares Surge 32% on AI Server Demand

Dell Technologies shares surged 32% on Friday, posting the stock's best day ever, after the company reported its fastest pace of revenue growth since returning to the public market in 2018. The dramatic rally was driven by explosive demand for artificial intelligence-related servers, particularly those containing graphics processing units from Nvidia and other chipmakers. The company reported first-quarter earnings after market close on Thursday that shattered expectations. Quarterly revenue soared nearly 88% year over year, while AI server revenue alone jumped 757% from the prior year to $16.1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.86, crushing analyst expectations of $2.94. The outperformance triggered a wave of analyst reactions on Friday, with Morgan Stanley acknowledging they had underestimated the results. "We got this one wrong, and our model/PT are under review," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, describing the quarter as "one of the most impressive quarters we've seen in our time covering Hardware, especially in the context of what is happening across the component universe."