Dell Technologies Inc
For the period ended May 2, 2025. Filed Jun 10, 2025.
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May 2, 2025 · Filed Jun 10, 2025
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Item Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This management’s discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 and the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs, and that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements.
Unless otherwise indicated, all results presented are prepared in a manner that complies, in all material respects, with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Unless otherwise indicated, all changes identified for the current-period results represent comparisons to results for the prior corresponding fiscal period.
Unless the context indicates otherwise, references in this report to “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” and “Dell Technologies” mean Dell Technologies Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Our fiscal year is the 52- or 53-week period ending on the Friday nearest January 31. We refer to our fiscal year ending January 30, 2026 as “Fiscal 2026,” and our fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 as “Fiscal 2025.” Fiscal 2026 and Fiscal 2025 include 52 weeks.
INTRODUCTION
Company Overview
Dell Technologies is a leader in the global technology industry focused on providing broad and innovative technology solutions for the data and artificial intelligence (“AI”) era. We build and offer solutions ranging from client devices and peripherals to infrastructure solutions across servers, networking, and storage to meet the evolving needs of our customers and drive better business outcomes. With our extensive portfolio and our commitment to innovation, we offer secure, integrated solutions that extend from the edge to the core to the cloud, and we are at the forefront of AI, software-defined, and cloud native infrastructure solutions. Our vision is to become the most essential technology partner. We intend to realize our vision by executing our strategy of leveraging our strengths to extend our leadership positions and capture new growth.
We are organized into two business units which are also our reportable segments: Infrastructure Solutions Group and Client Solutions Group.
Infrastructure Solutions Group (“ISG”) — ISG includes our servers and networking offerings and our storage offerings. Our server portfolio includes high-performance general-purpose and AI-optimized servers. Our networking portfolio includes wide area network infrastructure, data center and edge networking switches, and cables and optics. Our comprehensive storage portfolio includes modern and traditional storage solutions, including all-flash arrays, scale-out file, object platforms, hyper-converged infrastructure, and software-defined storage. ISG also offers software, peripherals, and services, including consulting and support and deployment.
Client Solutions Group (“CSG”) — CSG includes offerings designed for commercial and consumer customers. Our CSG portfolio includes branded PCs, including notebooks, desktops, and workstations, branded peripherals, and third-party software and peripherals. CSG also includes services offerings, such as configuration, support and deployment, and extended warranties.
Our other businesses primarily consist of our historical resale of standalone offerings of VMware LLC (formerly VMware, Inc. and individually and together with its subsidiaries, “VMware”), referred to as “VMware Resale,” and offerings of SecureWorks Corp. (“Secureworks”) through the date of the sale of Secureworks as discussed below. These businesses are divested businesses or their offerings are no longer actively sold, and are not classified as reportable segments, either individually or collectively. Their operating results are reported within Corporate and other. On February 3, 2025, the sale of Secureworks to Sophos Inc., an affiliate of Thoma Bravo, L.P., was completed in an all-cash transaction for a purchase price of approximately $0.9 billion. We received total cash consideration for the equity interest held in Secureworks of approximately $0.6 billion, resulting in a gain on sale recorded of $0.2 billion recognized in interest and other, net in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income during the three months ended May 2, 2025.
For further discussion regarding our current reportable segments, see “Results of Operations — Business Unit Results” and Note 15 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report.
We offer customers choices in how they acquire our solutions, including traditional purchasing and offerings under the Dell Payment Solutions portfolio. These offerings provide both payment and consumption solutions, including as-a-Service, subscription, utility, leases, and loans, which allow our customers to pay over time and provide them with operational and financial flexibility. Dell Financial Services and its affiliates (“DFS”) support financing solutions and services as part of the portfolio. For additional information about our financing arrangements, see Note 4 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report.
Business Trends and Challenges
During the first quarter of Fiscal 2026, we executed our strategy with strong operating results, generating overall net revenue and operating income growth. The following trends and conditions affected the environment in which we operated:
Macroeconomic environment: The demand environment significantly increased for our AI-optimized server offerings and remained strong for our commercial offerings. While the demand environment was strong, the pricing environment remained competitive, primarily impacting our CSG gross margin performance.
Demand of AI-optimized solutions: Our ISG business continued to benefit from increased demand for AI-optimized solutions as customers continue to adopt and further integrate AI. As a result of the substantial demand for our AI-optimized servers during the quarter, backlog levels significantly increased when compared to the prior quarter. Given the scale of the AI opportunities, the varying stages of customer readiness, and the frequency of component part updates or transitions, there is inherent non-linearity in the timing of demand and subsequent shipments for our AI-optimized server offerings, which continues to drive variability in our revenue.
Technology refresh in core markets: Within our CSG business, the PC refresh cycle is underway as customers have begun upgrading their devices, which has contributed to increased demand for our commercial offerings and CSG net revenue growth. Additionally, within our ISG business, we continue to see customers modernize and consolidate their data centers as more customers transition to next-generation products, which drove modest demand within our traditional servers and networking offerings.
Business modernization initiatives: We continue to prioritize ongoing modernization initiatives to achieve greater efficiencies and streamline our processes, while also continuing to make strategic investments designed to enable growth and innovation. These initiatives have resulted in a continued net reduction in our operating expenses.
We expect net revenue growth for the full fiscal year primarily driven by ISG net revenue, and to a lesser extent, CSG net revenue. We expect demand growth across our servers and networking offerings throughout the remainder of Fiscal 2026, which will result in ISG net revenue growth. While we expect overall ISG net revenue growth, we anticipate potential near-term demand moderation as customers reevaluate IT spending behavior due to uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment. We expect CSG net revenue growth driven in part by the PC refresh cycle. Additionally, we expect a continued reduction of our Corporate and other net revenue driven by offerings that are no longer actively sold and businesses that have been divested.
We expect a modest decline in input costs during Fiscal 2026, primarily driven by anticipated deflation for component costs. Input cost trends are dependent on the strength or weakness of actual end-user demand and supply dynamics, which will continue to fluctuate and ultimately impact our costs, pricing, and operating results.
We remain focused on executing our key strategic priorities, creating long-term value for our stakeholders, and addressing our customers’ needs while continuing to make prudent decisions in response to the environment. We expect margin growth for the full fiscal year, while balancing anticipated margin rate pressure resulting from a continuing shift in mix towards our AI-optimized servers and a competitive environment. We look to balance profitability and growth while maintaining disciplined pricing as we navigate through competitive pricing pressures.
We continue to advance our own capabilities to change the way we work and make decisions, improve business outcomes and the customer experience, and reduce costs by leveraging new technology and optimizing business processes. We remain committed to disciplined cost management in coordination with our ongoing business modernization initiatives and expect continued reductions in operating expenses as we take certain measures to reduce costs, including limitation of external hiring, employee reorganizations, and other actions to align our investments with our strategic priorities and customer needs. We anticipate these actions will result in additional reductions in our overall headcount. We believe our unique operating advantages provide a foundation to foster business growth, enable innovation, drive efficiencies, and continue to position us for long-term success.
Relationship with VMware — On March 25, 2024, we terminated our Commercial Framework Agreement with VMware, whereby we acted as a distributor of Broadcom Inc.’s VMware standalone products and services. We no longer act as a distributor of such products and services, although we continue to support customers that have purchased resale offerings sold in prior periods. We continue to integrate and embed certain VMware products and services with our VxRail solution to end-user customers. The results for this integrated offering are reflected within ISG.
ISG — We expect ISG will continue to be impacted by the evolving nature of the IT infrastructure market and competitive environment. With our scale and market-leading solutions portfolio, we believe we are well-positioned to address the ongoing competitive dynamics and trends in technology and customer needs. Through our collaborative, customer-focused approach to innovation, we strive to deliver relevant new and next-generation solutions and software to our customers quickly and efficiently. We continue to focus on customer base expansion and the lifetime value of customer relationships.
We anticipate ISG will continue to benefit from technology advancements and interest in AI as customers continue to adopt and integrate AI. The timing of customer purchases reflects the varying stages of adoption of AI by different customer segments and drives variability in our revenue. To meet the growing demand and increasing complexity of our AI-optimized offerings, we have increased our purchases of certain components with suppliers, which has resulted in increased inventory levels, higher purchase obligations, and new working capital dynamics. Additionally, frequent component part updates or transitions create additional challenges in managing demand and supply levels. While we have seen lead times shorten, we anticipate the next generation of these components, for which the demand remains high, will be subject to supply constraints.
We expect that growth in data will continue to generate long-term demand for our storage solutions and services. Cloud native applications are expected to continue to be a key trend in the infrastructure market. We continue to expand our offerings in external storage arrays, which incorporate flexible, cloud-based functionality. We benefit from offering solutions that address software-defined storage, hyper-converged infrastructure, and modular solutions based on server-centric architectures. Our storage business is subject to seasonal trends, which may continue to impact ISG results.
CSG —We participate in all segments of the PC market with a focus on commercial and high-end consumer computing devices, which we believe represent the most stable and profitable markets. We anticipate that CSG will benefit from advances in AI over the long-term as customers will require PCs with the ability to run their complex AI workloads.
Competitive dynamics remain an important factor in our CSG business and continue to impact pricing and operating results. We are committed to our long-term CSG strategy and will continue to make investments to innovate across the portfolio. We expect that the CSG demand environment will be subject to seasonal trends and influenced by the timing and scale of the PC refresh cycle.
Recurring Revenue and Consumption Models — We expect that our flexible consumption models will further strengthen our customer relationships and provide a foundation for growth in recurring revenue. We define recurring revenue as revenue recognized that is primarily related to hardware and software maintenance, as well as operating leases, subscription, as-a-Service, and usage-based offerings.
Strategic Investments and Acquisitions — As part of our strategy, we will continue to evaluate opportunities for strategic investments through our venture capital investment arm, Dell Technologies Capital, with a focus on emerging technology areas that are relevant to our business and that will complement our existing portfolio of solutions. The technologies or products these companies have under development are typically in the early stages and may never have commercial value, which could result in a loss of a substantial part of our investment in the companies. In addition to these investments, we may also make targeted acquisitions of businesses that advance our strategic objectives and accelerate our innovation agenda.
Foreign Currency Exposure — We manage our business on a U.S. Dollar basis. However, we have a large global presence, generating approximately half of our net revenue from sales to customers outside of the United States during the first quarter of Fiscal 2026 and Fiscal 2025. As a result, our operating results can be, and particularly in recent periods have been, impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. We utilize a comprehensive hedging strategy intended to mitigate the impact of foreign currency volatility over time, and we adjust pricing when possible to further minimize foreign currency impacts.
Other Macroeconomic Risks and Uncertainties — During the first quarter of Fiscal 2026, a number of countries, including the United States, imposed or proposed tariffs on imports, and may continue to do so. The impacts of trade protection measures, including increases or changes in tariffs and trade barriers, changes in government policies and international trade arrangements, geopolitical volatility, and global macroeconomic conditions, or uncertainty regarding the impact of proposed or future trade protection measures, may affect our results of operations in some markets. We leveraged the agility and scale of our world-class supply chain to mitigate impacts of tariffs during the quarter, and will continue to respond to changing market conditions as needed.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
In this management’s discussion and analysis, we use supplemental measures of our performance which are derived from our consolidated financial information but which are not presented in our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures include non-GAAP product gross margin; non-GAAP services gross margin; non-GAAP gross margin; non-GAAP operating expenses; non-GAAP operating income; non-GAAP net income; non-GAAP earnings per share attributable to Dell Technologies Inc. - diluted; free cash flow; and adjusted free cash flow. These non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered as indicators of performance or liquidity in isolation from or as a substitute for gross margin, operating expenses, operating income, net income, diluted earnings per share, or cash flows from operating activities prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should be read only in conjunction with financial information presented on a GAAP basis.
We use non-GAAP financial measures to supplement financial information presented on a GAAP basis. Management uses these non-GAAP measures in financial planning and forecasting and when evaluating our financial results and operating trends and performance. We believe, when used supplementally with GAAP financial measures, these non-GAAP financial measures provide our investors with useful and transparent information to help them evaluate our results by facilitating an enhanced understanding of our results of operations and enabling them to make period to period comparisons. There are limitations to the use of the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this report. Our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.
Non-GAAP product gross margin, non-GAAP services gross margin, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP earnings per share attributable to Dell Technologies Inc. - diluted, as defined by us, exclude amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, other corporate (income) expenses and, for non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share attributable to Dell Technologies Inc. - diluted, fair value adjustments on equity investments and an aggregate adjustment for income taxes. As the excluded items may have a material impact on our financial results, our management compensates for this limitation by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using non-GAAP financial measures supplementally or for projections when comparable GAAP financial measures are not available.
Reconciliations of each non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are presented below. We encourage you to review the reconciliations in conjunction with the presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures for each of the periods presented. The discussion below includes information on each of the excluded items as well as our reasons for excluding them from our non-GAAP results. In future fiscal periods, we may exclude such items and may incur income and expenses similar to these excluded items. Accordingly, the exclusion of these items and other similar items in our non-GAAP presentation should not be interpreted as implying that these items are non-recurring, infrequent, or unusual.
The following is a summary of the items excluded from the most comparable GAAP financial measures to calculate our non-GAAP financial measures.
Amortization of Intangible Assets — Amortization of intangible assets primarily consists of the amortization of customer relationships, developed technology, and trade names. In connection with our acquisition by merger of EMC Corporation in 2016, all of the tangible and intangible assets and liabilities were accounted for and recognized at fair value on the transaction date. We exclude amortization charges for the amortization of intangible assets as they do not reflect our current operating performance and charges are significantly impacted by the timing and magnitude of our acquisitions and, as a result, may vary in amount from period to period.
Stock-based Compensation Expense — Stock-based compensation expense consists of equity awards granted based on the estimated fair value of those awards at grant date. To estimate the fair value of performance-based awards containing a market condition, we use the Monte Carlo valuation model. For other share-based awards, the fair value is generally based on the closing price of the Class C Common Stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on the date of grant. Although stock-based compensation is an important aspect of the compensation of our employees and executives, we exclude such expense because the fair value of the stock-based awards may fluctuate based on factors unrelated to the operating performance of the business and may bear little resemblance to the actual value realized upon the vesting or future exercise of the related stock-based awards.
Other Corporate (Income) Expenses — Other corporate (income) expenses consist primarily of transaction-related gains on the sales of businesses, severance expenses, payroll taxes associated with stock-based compensation, incentive charges related to equity investments, transaction-related expenses, facility action costs, and impairment charges. During the first quarter of Fiscal 2026, we recognized a $0.2 billion gain related to the sale of Secureworks. Although we may incur these types of expenses in the future, we exclude other corporate (income) expenses as they can vary from period to period, are significantly impacted by the timing and nature of these events, and are not used by management in assessing operating performance of the business.
Fair Value Adjustments on Equity Investments — Fair value adjustments on equity investments primarily consist of the gain (loss) on strategic investments, which includes recurring fair value adjustments of investments in publicly-traded companies, as well as those in privately-held companies, which are adjusted for observable price changes and any potential impairments. See Note 3 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report for additional information on our strategic investment activity. We exclude fair value adjustments on equity investments given the volatility in ongoing adjustments to the valuation of these strategic investments and because such adjustments are unrelated to the operating performance of our business.
Aggregate Adjustment for Income Taxes — The aggregate adjustment for income taxes is the estimated combined income tax effect for the adjustments described above and determined based on the tax jurisdictions where those adjustments were incurred, as well as an adjustment for discrete tax items. During the first quarter of Fiscal 2025, the aggregate adjustment for income taxes included discrete tax benefits of $0.4 billion related to changes in uncertain tax benefits resulting from the expiration of certain U.S. statutes of limitations and $0.2 billion related to stock-based compensation. We exclude these benefits or charges for purposes of calculating non-GAAP net income due to the variability in recognition of discrete tax items from period to period. The tax effects are determined based on the tax jurisdictions where the above items were incurred. See Note 11 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report for additional information about our income taxes. Our non-GAAP income tax was calculated using a fixed estimated annual tax rate that is determined based on historical trends and projections for the current fiscal year. We may adjust our estimated annual tax rate during the fiscal year to take into account events that would significantly impact our income tax expense, including significant changes resulting from tax legislation, material changes in geographic mix of revenue and expenses, changes to our corporate structure, and other significant events.
The following table presents a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure forthe periods indicated:
| Three Months Ended | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2025 | % Change | May 3, 2024 | |
| (in millions, except percentages) | |||
| Product gross margin | $2,483 | 3% | $2,406 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | 41 | 60 | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 15 | 14 | |
| Other corporate expenses | 9 | 4 | |
| Non-GAAP product gross margin | $2,548 | 3% | $2,484 |
| Services gross margin | $2,454 | —% | $2,445 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 24 | 24 | |
| Other corporate expenses | 31 | 39 | |
| Non-GAAP services gross margin | $2,509 | —% | $2,508 |
| Gross margin | $4,937 | 2% | $4,851 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | 41 | 60 | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 39 | 38 | |
| Other corporate expenses | 40 | 43 | |
| Non-GAAP gross margin | $5,057 | 1% | $4,992 |
| Operating expenses | $3,772 | (3)% | $3,886 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | (85) | (108) | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | (151) | (172) | |
| Other corporate expenses | (145) | (133) | |
| Non-GAAP operating expenses | $3,391 | (2)% | $3,473 |
| Three Months Ended | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2025 | % Change | May 3, 2024 | |
| (in millions, except percentages and per share amounts) | |||
| Operating income | $1,165 | 21% | $965 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | 126 | 168 | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 190 | 210 | |
| Other corporate expenses | 185 | 176 | |
| Non-GAAP operating income | $1,666 | 10% | $1,519 |
| Net income | $965 | (3)% | $992 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | 126 | 168 | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 190 | 210 | |
| Other corporate (income) expenses | (58) | 170 | |
| Fair value adjustments on equity investments | (17) | 30 | |
| Aggregate adjustment for income taxes | (120) | (611) | |
| Non-GAAP net income | $1,086 | 13% | $959 |
| Earnings per share attributable to Dell Technologies Inc. — diluted | $1.37 | —% | $1.37 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Amortization of intangibles | 0.18 | 0.23 | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 0.27 | 0.29 | |
| Other corporate (income) expenses | (0.08) | 0.24 | |
| Fair value adjustments on equity investments | (0.02) | 0.04 | |
| Aggregate adjustment for income taxes | (0.17) | (0.84) | |
| Total non-GAAP adjustments attributable to non-controlling interests | — | (0.01) | |
| Non-GAAP earnings per share attributable to Dell Technologies Inc. — diluted | $1.55 | 17% | $1.32 |
In addition to the above measures, we use free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow as non-GAAP liquidity measures to evaluate our performance. As presented in the following table, we define free cash flow as cash flow from operations after excluding capital expenditures and capitalized software costs, net. To measure adjusted free cash flow, we exclude the impact of financing receivables and equipment under operating leases from free cash flow, as the initial funding of these DFS offerings at the time of origination is largely subsequently replaced with cash inflows from our DFS debt, the majority of which is asset-backed.
Free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow provide useful information to management and investors in part because we use these metrics in our long-term capital allocation framework. Further, we believe free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow are useful measures to management and investors because they reflect cash that we can use, among other purposes, to repurchase common stock, pay dividends on our common stock, invest in our business, pay down debt, and make strategic acquisitions.
As is the case with the other non-GAAP measures presented above, users should consider the limitations of using free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow, including the fact that those measures do not provide a complete measure of our cash flows for any period. Free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow do not purport to be alternatives to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. In particular, free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow are not intended to be a measure of cash flow available for management’s discretionary use, as these measures do not reflect certain cash requirements, such as debt service requirements and other contractual commitments.
The following table presents a reconciliation of free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow to cash flow from operations for the periods indicated:
| Three Months Ended | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2025 | % Change | May 3, 2024 | |
| (in millions, except percentages) | |||
| Cash flow from operations | $2,796 | 168% | $1,043 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs, net (a) | (568) | (586) | |
| Free cash flow | $2,228 | 388% | $457 |
| Free cash flow | $2,228 | 388% | $457 |
| Non-GAAP adjustments: | |||
| Financing receivables (b) | (23) | 165 | |
| Equipment under operating leases (c) | 27 | 1 | |
| Adjusted free cash flow | $2,232 | 258% | $623 |
(a)Capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs, net includes proceeds from sales of facilities, land, and other assets.
(b)Financing receivables represent the operating cash flow impact from the change in financing receivables.
(c)Equipment under operating leases represents the net impact of capital expenditures and depreciation expense for leases and contractually embedded leases identified within flexible consumption arrangements.
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