Dell Stock: What Wall Street Expects From Q1 Earnings Today

TLDR

• Dell reports Q1 FY2027 earnings after market close on Thursday, May 28
• Analysts expect EPS of $3.00 and revenue of $34.95 billion — a 49% year-over-year jump
• Dell entered FY2027 with a $43 billion AI server backlog after delivering over $25 billion
• Bank of America reiterated Buy and raised its price target to $280, saying Dell will likely beat and raise
• DELL opened at $243.00, up 3.3%, with a 52-week range of $106.38–$263.99

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Dell Technologies is heading into its Q1 FY2027 earnings report on May 28 with a lot riding on one question: can it turn its massive AI server business into real profit, not just big revenue numbers?

Dell Technologies Inc., DELL

DELL opened at $243.00 on Thursday, up 3.3% on the day, giving the company a market cap of around $156.9 billion. The stock has been on a tear, with its 200-day moving average sitting at just $151.57 — meaning the stock has run well ahead of where it was trading not long ago.

Analysts expect Dell to report EPS of $3.00 and revenue of $34.95 billion for Q1. That would be a 49% jump in revenue compared to the same quarter last year, when AI server sales were still ramping up.

Dell’s own guidance is slightly more conservative, calling for $2.90 EPS in Q1 and $12.90 EPS for the full fiscal year. But Wall Street has seen Dell beat estimates before — last quarter it came in at $3.89 EPS versus the $3.53 consensus, and revenue of $33.38 billion beat the $31.60 billion estimate.

The AI Server Story

The Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) is the engine driving Dell’s re-rating. Last quarter, ISG revenue grew 73% year-over-year to $19.6 billion. AI-optimized servers made up about 46% of that.

Dell exited FY2026 with $64 billion in AI server orders total. It delivered over $25 billion and carried a $43 billion backlog into FY2027. Management has guided for roughly $50 billion in AI-optimized server revenue this fiscal year — more than double last year.

To hit that target, the market will want to see AI server revenue in the $12–$13 billion range this quarter.

Margins Are the Real Story

Revenue growth is expected. What the market actually wants to see is whether Dell can hold its margins.

When Dell sells AI servers loaded with Nvidia GPUs, the revenue climbs fast — but GPU and memory components typically carry thinner margins. ISG’s operating margin swung from 18.1% in Q4 FY25 down to 8.8% in Q2 FY26 before recovering to 14.8% in Q4 FY26. That recovery showed some operating leverage kicking in.

This quarter, a margin in the low-to-mid teens would likely be seen as acceptable if AI server volumes stay strong.

The Client Solutions Group, which sells PCs, continues to lag. Revenue has grown only in the low single digits and operating income has been shrinking — but it’s increasingly a sideshow.

At 18.7x forward earnings, DELL now trades 68% above its five-year historical average of 11.1x. That premium reflects the market treating Dell as an AI infrastructure company, not just a PC seller.

Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $280 from $246, saying Dell is likely to beat estimates and raise its full-year guidance. Mizuho also has an Outperform rating with a $260 target. Goldman Sachs lifted its target to $230.

The Wall Street consensus is Moderate Buy, with 12 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell across 17 recent ratings. The average price target is $218.87 — which, notably, is below where the stock is currently trading.

Dell also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.63 per share, up from $0.53, representing a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of about 1%.