Dell’s quarterly revenue drops 20% on weak PC demand

(Reuters) -Dell Technologies Inc’s revenue fell for a third straight quarter on Thursday as demand for desktops and laptops cooled following a pandemic rush for work-from-home equipment.

Its shares were halted after the company announced results during regular trading hours, even though they were scheduled for after markets closed.

Recent earnings from rivals HP Inc (NYSE:) and Lenovo Group (OTC:) had also suggested that a recovery remains distant as an uncertain economy threatens the sector’s key enterprise customer base and worsens inventory pile-ups.

For the first quarter ended May 5, Dell’s revenue fell 20% to $20.92 billion, but beat analysts’ expectations of $20.27 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The company’s client solutions unit – home to its consumer and enterprise PC business – posted a 23% fall in sales, while the infrastructure solutions unit, which includes servers, storage devices and networking hardware, saw an 18% decline.

Net income attributable came in at $578 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with $1.07 billion, or $1.37 per share, a year earlier.