Dell profit up 46 percent in second quarter

Dell posted a 46% jump in profit and a 4.8% increase in revenue for its fiscal second quarter, spurred by strong notebook and server sales and a drop in component costs. Overall sales rose 7% to $14.8 billion from last-year's $14.1 billion – exceeding average market expectations of $14.6 billion.

However, Dell warned investors that the figures are preliminary as the company plans to restate its earnings for the past four years after an audit of its accounts revealed that some employees had falsified corporate revenue to meet earnings targets. Meanwhile, the company plans to continue its turnaround efforts, which includes cutting 10 percent of its staff to reduce costs.

“While our results demonstrate we have made progress against our goals, we are still in the early stages of transforming our company’s structure, costs and operations,” Dell chief executive Michael Dell said.
The company is also still struggling with meeting the “better-than-expected” demand for its colorful Inspiron and XPS notebooks introduced in June, due to manufacturing problems with the paint jobs. But despite its troubles, Dell’s retail push is apparently going well. According to researcher Gartner, PC sales through retailers such as Wal-Mart helped Dell's shipments rise 5.7 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months.