Dell Inc. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter and full-year results that beat Wall Street expectations, but executives issued a cautious outlook that weighed on the company’s stock in extended trading. Dell
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shares initially jumped more than 6% higher after hours, after falling about 0.7% in the regular session to close at $40.17, before swinging to a loss after executives provided a cautious outlook on the earnings call. They are down about 3% as of 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The computer company posted record sales for the year, though its fourth-quarter sales were down year over year. But on the call, executives said both corporate and consumer spending are slowing, though they expected things to get better later in the year. Chief Financial Officer Tom Sweet, who is retiring after 26 years with the company, said on the call that he expects first-quarter revenue to be down 15% to 21% year over year, “seasonally lower than average.” At the midpoint of that range, that works out to about $20.7 billion, lower than analysts’ expectation of $21.6 billion. “The broad caution in the IT spending environment that we called out in Q2 continues,” Chuck Whitten, co-chief operating officer, said on the call. Dell reported fourth-quarter net income of $606 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with a loss of $29 million, or 4 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for stock-based compensation, amortization and other costs, earnings were $1.32 billion, or $1.80 a …