Dell’s numbers show PC industry staggering back

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dell Inc.’s second-quarter results reinforce what other tech heavyweights have shown recently about the health of the personal-computer industry: it’s still wounded by the recession, but is staggering back to its feet, thanks to consumers, bargain prices and little “netbook” laptops for surfing the Internet.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company reported Thursday that profit fell 23 percent and sales fell 22 percent in the May-July period. The results beat Wall Street’s forecasts, however, sending the shares up more than 6 percent.

Dell’s message was similar to those offered by rival Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s No. 1 PC seller, and supplier Intel Corp., the world’s biggest computer chip maker, in their latest quarterly reports: consumers are coming back to the stores to buy PCs, but corporations are still being stingy.

Dell added that it might not be until 2010 that businesses open their wallets again. Analysts have been eyeing next year for a turnaround because companies will have new budgets, can’t hold on to old PCs forever, and will have a new version of Microsoft Windows available.