OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently admitted that “investors as a whole are overexcited about AI.” This overexcitement has led some investors to view tech companies that don’t make artificial intelligence hardware or software as “legacy tech.”

Dell is a company that doesn’t make GPUs or AI accelerators and isn’t exactly known for software. A superficial view might produce a misleading impression that it isn’t an AI company.

But although Dell isn’t making AI accelerators, it makes complete solutions based on them, which is why it is an AI company.

ResearchAndMarkets.com’s report, “AI Data Center—Company Evaluation Report, 2025,” ranks Dell as one of three top companies in the AI data center space.

Dell Q2 revenue grows 48% to $1.004 billion year over year

On August 28, Dell  (DELL)  reported its results for Q2 of fiscal 2026.

Dell Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said the company shipped $10 billion of AI solutions in the first half of fiscal year 2026, exceeding all shipments from last year.

He added that demand for Dell’s AI solutions continues to be exceptional, and that the company is raising its AI server shipment guidance for fiscal year 2026 to $20 billion.

Related: Agentic AI already makes major impact on jobs at leading tech company

Dell earnings highlights:

• Record revenue of $29.8 billion, up 19% year-over-year
• Operating income of $1.8 billion, up 27% YoY
• Diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.70, up 38% YoY
• Cash flow from operations of $2.5 billion

Dell provided an outlook for Q3 of fiscal year 2026:

• Revenue of between $26.5 billion to $27.5 billion
• Diluted EPS expected to be $2.07 at the midpoint, up 26% YoY

Dell’s outlook for the full fiscal year 2026:

• Revenue of between $105.0 billion and $109.0 billion
• Diluted EPS expected to be $7.98 at the midpoint, up 25% YoY

During the earnings call, Clarke stated: “As I mentioned last quarter, our execution in AI continues to be a key differentiator. We are innovating at an unprecedented pace, engineering at scale solutions for customers while remaining agile to rapidly changing customer road maps and architectures.

“We were the first in the world to ship both the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 solution last year, and the GB300 NVL72 in July to CoreWeave,” he continued.

Dell announces CFO transition

On Sept. 8, Dell announced that Chief Financial Officer Yvonne McGill will step down from her role effective Sept. 9, 2025. The company has named David Kennedy, senior vice president, Dell Global Business Operations, Finance, as interim CFO effective Sept. 9, 2025.

McGill will serve in an advisory capacity through Q3 fiscal 2026 to facilitate a seamless transition. The company reaffirmed its guidance for fiscal 2026 Q3 and full year.

Analysts expect Dell guidance for faster revenue and EPS growth

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan and his team updated their opinion on Dell shares following the CFO departure announcement.

Analysts expect Dell to highlight its long-term guidance and capital allocation framework at the Securities Analyst Meeting (SAM) on October 7.

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Dell guidance given at the 2023 SAM was:

• 3% to 4% YoY revenue growth
• 8%+ non-GAAP EPS growth
• Net income to adjusted free cash flow conversion of 100%+
• Returning 80%+ adjusted free cash flow to shareholders
• 10%+ dividend growth through fiscal year 2028

Mohan and his team expect guidance for faster revenue and EPS growth relative to the last model on the upcoming analyst day.

Analysts noted downside risk factors for Dell:

• Faster-than-expected slowdown in the global economy
• Faster-than-expected strengthening of the U.S. dollar
• Trade war with China
• Higher-than-expected tariffs
• Dell not being able to source needed processors from Intel
• Unexpected share loss to competitors

Dell upside risks:

• Faster-than-expected revenue growth and market share gain,
• Faster mix shift to storage and premium PC and server configurations
• Faster-than-expected ramp of sales teams
• Adoption of AI that can drive upside to cash flow across PCs and servers

Mohan reiterated a buy rating and a target price of $167, based on a 15 multiple of his estimate of earnings per share of $11.13 for calendar year 2026. His target multiple compares to the median 5 multiple of Dell’s historical range of 3 to 18 since it returned to the public markets in 2019.

Mohan’s team believes that multiple higher than the historical range is warranted, given favorable exposure to AI, improved storage portfolio, and lower financial leverage, as Dell balances opportunities to invest in core growth areas, with ongoing weak macro.

Related: Analysts revamp Broadcom price target on OpenAI deal