Dell Surges 32% on Record AI Server Sales, Analysts Eat Crow

Dell Technologies just delivered a shock to the market that sent its stock soaring 32% on Friday—putting it on track for the single best trading day in its history since returning to public markets in 2018.

The trigger: a first-quarter earnings report that revealed the company’s fastest revenue growth period since its IPO. AI server demand flooded in, with that segment alone pulling in $16.1 billion—a 757% year-over-year spike. Total quarterly revenue jumped nearly 88% from a year ago, while adjusted earnings per share hit $4.86, crushing the consensus estimate of $2.94.

Wall Street analysts scrambled to react. Morgan Stanley’s team admitted they misjudged the quarter entirely. “We got this one wrong, and our model/PT are under review,” they wrote in a note. “This was—across the board—one of the most impressive quarters we’ve seen in our time covering Hardware, especially given what’s happening in the component universe.” They added they’re “eating our humble pie.”

The surge underscores how deeply Nvidia’s GPUs are fueling enterprise AI infrastructure buildout. For IT leaders evaluating server procurement, Dell’s numbers signal that the AI hardware boom is accelerating faster than most models predicted. The question now: can competitors catch up?