Shares of Dell Technologies soared Friday as analysts said they expect the company’s fiscal first-quarter earnings next week to beat Wall Street expectations. Dell could also raise full-fiscal year guidance based on its artificial intelligence business, analysts believe.
Dell stock surged 17% to $295.19 on Friday, notching a record closing high. Shares also led the S&P 500 in the trading session. They have jumped 41% in May, part of a 135% advance this year amid the AI trade.
Dell was a Barron’s stock pick on Oct. 8, 2025. Since then, shares have risen 79%.
Investors pushed shares higher after a Wells Fargo analyst team, led by Aaron Rakers, raised its Dell price target to $270 from $180. The firm maintained its Overweight rating on the stock. The basis for the price target hike is Dell fiscal-first quarter earnings on May 28.
Rakers wrote that he thinks “investors need to see continued AI-driven upside” and “estimate revisions” out of Dell’s fiscal 2027 first-quarter results for shares to continue to move higher.
The Wells Fargo analysts added that AI metrics in the earnings report remain key and that investors will be taking note of AI order intake and backlog.
Dell previously guided revenue of $50 billion from AI servers for the full-fiscal year. Wells Fargo added that the company is targeting revenue totaling $13 billion from AI servers for the fiscal first-quarter.
Rakers wrote that Dell could revise that full-fiscal year number higher, around $60 billion to $65 billion. Overall, Wells Fargo expects Dell to increase its fiscal 2027 outlook on demand acceleration across AI infrastructure, but also traditional server demand visibility.
Dell previously initiated fiscal 2027 earnings guidance at $12.65 a share to $13.15 a share, with revenue between $138 billion and $142 billion.
Meanwhile, an Evercore ISI analyst team, led by Amit Daryanani, on Friday added Dell to the firm’s “tactical outperform list.” The earnings report is the catalyst for the firm’s tactical call.
“We remain constructive on the setup given continued AI infrastructure momentum and improving enterprise AI demand signals,” Daryanani wrote, adding that the firm expects Dell’s earnings results to beat the consensus view.
“Dell’s AI server business remains the key upside variable here,” the analysts added.
However, not all analysts are as bullish on Dell.
Morgan Stanley analysts, led by Erik Woodring, on Thursday kept an Underweight rating on Dell with a price target of $170. That’s despite also expecting Expecting a beat and raise earnings performance on May 28.
Woodring wrote he remains “cautious” that strength in the first half of the fiscal year leads to “more elastic demand” and weaker second half earnings. This is based on surging costs of memory for the company’s PC computers.
The Morgan Stanley analysts added that Dell stock currently trades at a hefty premium to AI infrastructure peers.
“Given structural margin headwinds we don’t see current valuation as sustainable,” Woodring wrote.
Along with Dell next week, HP Inc. will report second-quarter earnings on May 27. And like Dell, HP has beenleaning into AI.
HP stock rose 15% to $25.24 on Friday, marking its highest closing price since Dec. 11 2025. Shares also closed higher for a sixth consecutive trading session, their longest winning streak since July 17, 2024, when they rose for eight straight trading days, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
