Techzine once again presents a series of quarterly figures from prominent IT companies. This time it’s the turn of Dell and its competitor HP, NetApp, Zscaler, and Nutanix.
Dell Technologies performed better than expected on Tuesday. Earnings per share came in at $2.59, while analysts had predicted $2.47 according to FactSet. Revenue of $27 billion was just below the expected $27.15 billion.
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Dell’s outlook far exceeded expectations. The company expects revenue of between $31 billion and $32 billion for the current quarter. Analysts had predicted $27.6 billion. This strong outlook is due to higher expectations for AI servers. Dell therefore raised its revenue forecast for this segment from $20 billion to $25 billion for 2026.
“AI momentum is accelerating in the second half of the year,” said COO Jeff Clarke. “Dell is winning in AI because of our unique ability to engineer bespoke high-performance solutions, rapidly deploy large, complex clusters, and provide global support.” The stock rose more than 1 percent after hours, although it had previously shown a gain of nearly 5 percent.
HP announces mass layoffs
The news was less positive at HP. The PC and printer manufacturer announced it would lay off 4,000 to 6,000 people. That amounts to up to 10 percent of its workforce. The financial outlook was also disappointing.
For the entire 2026 fiscal year, HP expects adjusted earnings per share of $2.90 to $3.20. This is below the consensus expectation of $3.33. “HP’s outlook reflects the added cost driven by the current U.S. trade-related regulations in place, and associated mitigations,” the company said.
Revenue did increase by 4 percent to $14.64 billion in the quarter ending October 31. That was slightly more than the expected $14.48 billion. Earnings per share came in at 93 cents, virtually unchanged from the expected 92 cents.
CEO Enrique Lores pointed to the huge increase in memory costs. “Memory costs are currently 15 to 18 percent of the cost of a typical PC. While an increase was expected, its rate has accelerated in the last few weeks.” That is certainly the case: consumers who want to buy separate RAM modules have also seen prices double, triple, or more since October.
HP expects to benefit from the end of Windows 10 support by Microsoft. Approximately 60 percent of HP’s installed base has already switched to Windows 11. Nevertheless, the share price fell 6 percent after trading hours. On an annual basis, HP is down 25 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 15 percent. Note that today, more than a third of the S&P 500 is made up of the seven largest companies, or the “Magnificent Seven.”
NetApp benefits from AI demand and expects even better figures
Data storage company NetApp actually performed better than expected. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.05, above the expected $1.88. Revenue was $1.71 billion, up 3 percent and above the consensus expectation of $1.69 billion.
CEO George Kurian attributed the success, as expected, to strong demand from customers working on AI projects. “We remain confident that our visionary approach to a data-driven future will enable us to outpace market growth and capture additional market share.”
NetApp raised its forecast for the entire 2026 fiscal year. The company now expects earnings of $7.75 to $8.05 per share, up from $7.60 to $7.90 previously. Revenue expectations also rose to $6.63 to $6.88 billion. The stock rose more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
Zscaler disappoints with cautious forecasts
Security player Zscaler beat expectations in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 96 cents, compared to 77 cents a year earlier. Analysts had expected 86 cents. Revenue was $788.1 million, a 26 percent increase and above the expected $773.26 million.
Nevertheless, shares fell more than 7 percent after the market closed. The outlook for the current quarter just met expectations but did not exceed them. Zscaler expects adjusted earnings of 89 to 90 cents per share on revenue of $797 million to $799 million.
CEO Jay Chaudhry emphasized the company’s strategic position. “Zero Trust security is the linchpin for AI-Security, and Zscaler pioneered Zero Trust security with our cloud-native switchboard architecture.” In early November, the company announced the acquisition of SplxAI, a security platform for AI.
Nutanix lowers annual expectations due to revenue shift
The least positive news came from Nutanix. The company reported revenue of $670.6 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. That was less than the expected $676.65 million. However, adjusted earnings per share of $0.41 were in line with expectations.
Nutanix lowered its forecast for the entire fiscal year. The company now expects revenue of $2.82 to $2.86 billion, down from $2.9 to $2.94 billion. The consensus forecast was $2.92 billion. The stock plummeted 13 percent after the market had already closed.
CFO Rukmini Sivaraman explained that some first-quarter revenue shifted to future periods. “We expect that the revenue over time remains unchanged. We expect this dynamic to continue and have factored it in our Q2 and updated full-year revenue guidance. We are also pleased to raise our free cash flow guidance for the full year. Underlying demand and our view of business fundamentals for Nutanix remain unchanged.” The company did raise its full-year free cash flow outlook.