Dell Shares Fall After Sales Forecast

Bloomberg: A lackluster fourth quarter earnings report and grim predictions for the current quarter have caused Dell’s stock to drop dramatically, dragging many other technology stocks with it. The world’s third largest PC maker reported net income of $764 million, or 43 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. That marked an 18 percent decrease from the company’s $927 million in income the previous year. Following the announcement, Dell’s stock dropped 7.3 percent yesterday.

Dell blamed sluggish consumer and government sales, as well as the disk drive shortage caused by flooding in Thailand, for its poor showing. The company expects to continue to feel the effects of those pressures in the current quarter and predicted that sales would be 7 percent lower than last year, much lower than analysts’ expectations.