Dell's stock is at a new high - and it has beaten Apple's over a five-year span

By Emily Bary

Dell's position in AI hardware has earned its stock new appreciation

What's old is new again, at least from Wall Street's perspective.

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) was a hot company around the turn of the century, as it leapt ahead in the fast-moving race to sell personal computers. The company became the top-selling computer-systems provider globally in 2001.

The brand lost some of its cachet as the years went on, and as Apple Inc. (AAPL) began to see more traction in the personal-computer market. But Dell seems cool again in the artificial-intelligence era, and investors are taking notice.

The stock closed up 8.6% in Wednesday trading to hit $128.58. That marked a new all-time closing high for the shares, their first in about a month.

Read: Apple's stock has faltered, but a Steve Jobs moment in AI may be on the horizon

Dell's stock has enjoyed an explosive recent run, rising 67% so far in 2024 and advancing 214% over the past year. And its performance over a longer span as been notable as well, especially on a relative basis: Dell shares are up 309% over a five-year period, while Apple's stock is ahead 245%.

Wall Street has a new appreciation for Dell thanks to the company's position as a backbone of the AI revolution. The shares enjoyed their best day on record in early March, as the company showed rapid shipment growth for its AI-optimized servers. AI-hardware titan Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) even gave Dell a prominent shoutout at its recent GTC developer event.

"While the company has been through prior technology cycles (server virtualization, public cloud, mobile, etc.), one key difference for AI is that it appears to be incremental" to the total addressable market, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a mid-March note to clients. Earlier shifts in the tech landscape meant that newer technologies displaced legacy ones to an extent, he added.

See also: Apple's big AI news is coming - and Wall Street likely just got a date for it

-Emily Bary

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04-03-24 1623ET

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