Dell margins miss analysts’ estimates

Round Rock: Dell Inc, the world’s third-largest personal-computer maker, reported first-quarter gross margins that missed some analysts’ estimates after rising component costs eroded the benefit of a rebound in corporate demand.

Gross margin, excluding some items, was 17.6%, Dell said. That’s below the 17.9% anticipated on average by analysts, according to Maynard Um of UBS AG in New York.

Dell declined as much as 6.6% in extended trading after the report was released.

The higher costs of some components, such as memory chips, cut into profitability for the second straight quarter, even as Dell won new buyers for PCs, which account for more than half of its revenue. Dell is working to lessen its dependence on PCs by expanding into services, adding smartphones and preparing a tablet to take on Apple Inc and Hewlett- Packard Co.