Dell Earnings Beat Expectations by a Penny

PC maker Dell (DELL Quote) Thursday reported second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's expections.

Not Dell's Year One-year chart

The Austin, Texas-based computer giant said earnings for the quarter ended July 31 jumped to $603 million, or 22 cents a share, from $507 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had been expecting second-quarter profit of 21 cents a share. Sales jumped to $7.67 billion from $6.14 billion a year earlier.

Wall Street greets earnings reports from the likes of Dell with a fair amount of caution, as maturing industries are particularly vulnerable to economic slowdowns of the sort that investors fear are dawning right now.