Dell Technologies (DELL) climbed 11.8% on Friday to close at approximately $566.62 after reaching an all-time high of $567.75. The stock had closed at $506.62 in the previous session, while trading volume rose 71% above its daily average.

The rally followed RBC Capital Markets’ initiation of coverage on Dell with an Outperform rating and a $640 price target. RBC cited the company’s exposure to enterprise artificial intelligence investment, compute modernization, storage expansion and PC refresh cycles.

Other analysts also raised their targets. Goldman Sachs increased its target from $510 to $570 while maintaining a Buy rating. Barclays lifted its target from $550 to $603 and kept an Overweight rating. Fox Advisors upgraded Dell from Equal Weight to Overweight and assigned a $625 target.

Dell’s latest earnings report, released on September 1, exceeded expectations. The company reported earnings per share of $7.04, compared with the $4.91 consensus estimate. Revenue reached $46.97 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 57.7%.

AI server demand supports results

Dell reported $60.9 billion in AI server orders and a total backlog of roughly $95 billion. Revenue from AI-optimized servers doubled to $16.4 billion in the latest quarter. The company set full-year FY2027 EPS guidance at $25.50 and third-quarter guidance at $6.50.

Oracle’s planned $95 billion capital-spending program also contributed to broader expectations for AI hardware suppliers. Dell is considered a major supplier of Nvidia-based servers and is benefiting from demand from hyperscalers and enterprise customers.

Following the rise, Dell had a market capitalization of $367.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89 and a beta of 1.34. Its 50-day moving average was $447.99.

Michael Dell moves to No. 3 on Forbes list

The increase in Dell’s stock price raised CEO Michael Dell’s estimated net worth by more than 6% to $274 billion. That placed him just ahead of Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, whose estimated fortune was $273 billion, for the No. 3 position on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.

Dell and Bezos had exchanged the No. 3 position during the week. Dell briefly overtook Larry Page on Wednesday before falling behind again. Page’s fortune stood at $279 billion on Friday. Elon Musk remained No. 1, with an estimated net worth of $916 billion.

The reported AI server backlog and guidance put attention on the company’s ability to deliver against demand, while the planned bond offering and supply conditions are additional factors to monitor. The analyst targets also show that expectations vary, with the $560.24 consensus average below Friday’s close.

The company also faces several issues that investors are monitoring. Several insiders recently sold Dell shares, including Silver Lake-affiliated entities that reduced their positions by more than 53% and 58%, respectively. Overall, insiders sold 1.3 million shares worth more than $624 million during the past three months.

Dell is planning a $4 billion bond offering to refinance debt. The offering could affect the company’s leverage and cash flow. Supply shortages affecting AI hardware remain another risk, as does Dell’s elevated valuation following its sharp stock-price increase.

The current analyst consensus is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $560.24 from 36 analysts. Dell pays a quarterly dividend of $0.63 per share, equivalent to $2.52 on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%.

Source: CoinCentral