Dell Hits Its Mark

Actual shipment growth was 20%, but Rollins tried to de-emphasize the shipment figure because "so many of our products are not unit-based," he said, citing storage, software and PC peripherals as examples.

For the second quarter, Dell expects earnings of 37 cents to 39 cents a share and sales between $13.6 billion and $13.8 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 38 cents a share on sales of $13.6 billion. Dell said it would now provide a range for its financial guidance as it tries to be opportunistic about quickly chasing down new revenue.

By product line, sales of desktop PCs advanced 6% to $5.3 billion from the same quarter last year, mobile sales rose 22% to $3.3 billion, servers rose 12% to $1.3 billion, storage rose 49% to $400,000, enhanced services rose 30% to $1.1 billion and software and peripherals rose 29% to $2 billion.