Just two weeks after revealing that some employees had falsified corporate revenue to meet earnings targets, Dell reported a profit of $733 million for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, up 46 percent from its mark of $502 million for the same period last year. The strong result was driven by sales to enterprise customers, an increase in the selling prices of Dell PCs, and a drop in component costs, the company said.
Dell recorded revenue of $14.8 billion for the quarter ending Aug. 3, generating earnings of $0.32 per share. Both figures were above Wall Street expectations of $14.63 billion revenue and $0.30 earnings per share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. However, Dell warned investors to be cautious when comparing the figures to past quarters because the company plans to restate its earnings for the past four years. Dell plans to revise its quarterly and annual financial statements for fiscal 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and the first quarter of 2007.