ROUND ROCK, Texas, May 11, 2026, 04:14 CDT
UBS pulled Dell Technologies Inc down to Neutral from Buy on Monday, arguing that the stock’s run has already baked in its artificial intelligence server momentum. Still, the firm bumped its price target up to $243 from $167. Analyst David Vogt pointed out Dell’s shares have soared about 170% in the last year, well ahead of the S&P 500’s 30% move, and suggested the market might be factoring in 2027 earnings at $17 per share—a figure that’s roughly 25% above UBS’s own projection.
The call hits ahead of the U.S. cash session. Dell’s Class C shares finished Friday at $260.46, marking a 13.11% jump. The company’s LSEG-powered stock page puts the May 4 open at $211.64, closing out May 8 at $260.46—a sharp run-up for a business still mostly associated with PCs in the public mind.
Here’s why it matters right now: investors are no longer seeing Dell as just a purveyor of laptops, storage, and services. The company’s role as an AI infrastructure provider is driving the narrative. AI-optimized servers — the backbone for training and deploying AI models — are behind Dell’s sharply higher full-year outlook. The company projects revenue of roughly $50 billion from this segment by fiscal 2027, marking a 103% leap. “AI opportunity is transforming our company,” said Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke. Dell Technologies
Friday’s surge came with an unexpected boost in plain view. President Donald Trump, in White House remarks, praised the Dell family and told listeners to “go out and buy a Dell.” At the same time, Benzinga pointed out that Mizuho’s Vijay Rakesh maintained an Outperform on the stock and bumped his price target to $260, crediting strong enterprise AI demand. Benzinga
Backing for the trade isn’t just talk. Last month, Boost Run landed a $1.44 billion deal with Dell to buy AI compute and storage infrastructure. Dell’s senior VP of operations, David Singer, pledged to help Boost Run scale up, promising “hardware, software, and additional financing capabilities.” PR Newswire
Dell hasn’t just stuck to the big cloud players lately. On May 6, TotalEnergies announced it’s working with Dell and Nvidia on Pangea 5, a supercomputer planned for France. The project will boost the company’s computing muscle sixfold and comes with a price tag north of 100 million euros.
The catch: the story’s gotten crowded. Back in March, Reuters flagged Hewlett Packard Enterprise scrambling with Dell and Super Micro Computer for share in the cutthroat AI server space. Companies are now dealing with surging memory chip prices linked to the AI boom, pushing them to tweak pricing and defend margins.
Dell is making changes to its corporate structure as well. The board wants shareholders to sign off on switching the company’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas at the annual meeting set for June 25. According to Dell, the relocation won’t impact day-to-day operations, management, strategy, assets, or where employees work.
This time, the question isn’t if there’s demand for AI—it’s how much of that upside Dell actually gets to keep. Should component costs run ahead of what Dell can charge, or if enterprise AI deals stall before becoming real shipments, then the premium built into the shares could be on shaky ground.
Dell holds the order backlog, headlines in Washington, and sits at an all-time high. UBS’s downgrade argues most of that is already priced in by the market.
