Dell shares get boost from strong earnings report

That strong report pushed shares of Dell, the world's second-largest seller of personal computers, up 9.9 percent in late trading Thursday.

Now, investors will try to determine if the results were a one-term wonder or a sign that founder and CEO Michael Dell's turnaround plan is working.

Notebook shipments jumped 43 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. Dell had made them a priority, developing products for emerging markets, and the Round Rock, Texas-based company rang up more sales overseas than at home for the first time in the first quarter.

Revenue rose 19 percent in Asia and 15 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, helping Dell overcome a weak U.S. market where businesses were cutting back on technology spending.

"Dell did relatively well, but it was against low expectations," said Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research who rates the shares "neutral."

They rose 12 cents Thursday, closing at $21.81 in regular trading before the results were released, then jumped $2.16 to $23.97 in late trading.

Still, the results added to the sense that technology spending "is turning out a little better than expected," Wu said.

"Most of the vendors, from Intel to HP to Apple and Microsoft; the spending has been stronger than feared," Wu said.

Much of that strength has come from overseas. Dell, which is more dependent on U.S. sales than Hewlett-Packard Co., sees U.S. business customers "holding back from spending" on desktops, said Chief Financial Officer Donald J. Carty. He added that U.S. companies may continue to defer technology spending into this summer.