Dell has posted second quarter financials and the prognosis is pretty bleak. The PC business posted revenues of $2.6 billion which is 22 percent less than the same time period last year. The overall picture isn't as bad, however, with revenue of $14.5 billion, just eight percent fewer year over year. A drop in desktop and mobile sales in addition to the overall troubled economy is to blame, Dell says.
Dell had the most success in the enterprise market with a six percent increase in revenue since last year, good for $4.9 billion. This represents more than a third of Dell's overall income stream and is being billed as proof positive that the company's decision to focus on the enterprise was a good move.
"We continued our progress in shifting the mix of our business to higher-margin enterprise solutions, led by solid growth in our server, networking, services, and Dell IP storage businesses," said Dell's CFO Brian Gladden.
Company stock value dropped 5.4 percent following the earnings report and has lost 20 percent this year. Shares closed at $11.68 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile HP reported their worst loss in the company's 73-year history as revenue dropped five percent in addition to $9.2 billion in write-downs. This marked the company's fourth consecutive quarter of falling sales although a large portion of the write-off came from a 2008 acquisition of Electronic Data Systems. The company noted their PC group dropped 10 percent year over year but much like Dell, HP expects to make up some lost ground in other areas.
Both companies face similar forecasts for the rest of the year as consumers are waiting for the arrival of Windows 8.