Dell profits fall by half

Dell's profit fell 47 percent, hurt by lower PC sales and weaker demand from large corporations, but the No. 3 personal computer maker said it expects revenue to grow as much as 5 percent in the current quarter.

Dell shares fell 2.3 percent to $US9.36 in after-market trade from its close of $US9.56. The shares initially rose following the release of the results.

Dell - once the world's top PC maker and a pioneer in computer supply chain management - is struggling to defend its market share against Asian rivals like Lenovo, and is in the midst of trying to bolster growth by focusing on products and services to corporations.

The company founded by CEO Michael Dell warned that it "sees the challenging global macro-economic environment continuing in the fourth quarter."

Dell said revenue in its fiscal third quarter fell 11 percent to $US13.7 billion ($A13.2 billion), slightly lower than the average analyst estimate of $US13.89 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It posted net income of $US475 million or 27 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter, compared with $US893 million or 49 cents a year earlier. Excluding certain items, it earned 39 cents a share, compared to an average forecast for 40 cents.

Dell CFO Officer Brian Gladden said the company's corporate customers continue to defer spending on technology.

"It's not clear what's going to cause them to increase their spending in the short term, given the uncertainty in the economy," he said.

Dell's enterprise solutions revenue rose 3 percent to $US4.8 billion, while server and networking revenue climbed 11 percent. In contrast, consumer revenue plummeted 23 percent to $US2.5 billion, underscoring the plight of the broader PC market, and sales to large corporation declined 8 percent to $US4.2 billion in the quarter.