Sales to Consumers Boost Dell’s Outlook

Dell Computer Corp. said surprisingly strong consumer sales will lift quarterly earnings past Wall Street forecasts.

The world’s leading maker of personal computers said sales to consumers in its fiscal fourth quarter ending Feb. 1 will grow 50% from the previous quarter. That will push total sales, including those to business customers, to $8 billion. Analysts were expecting $7.6 billion.

Dell has stolen market share from rivals even as PC shipments fell last year for the first time since 1985. The company has lured consumers using TV commercials featuring a teenage pitchman.

Dell now expects earnings of 17 cents, a penny higher than analyst estimates. Its shares fell 85 cents to close at $28.10 on Nasdaq amid a downturn in the technology sector.