NEW YORK, May 22, 2026, 10:09 EDT
Dell Technologies shares jumped more than 10% in Friday morning trading after another Wall Street price-target increase added fuel to a rally built on demand for artificial intelligence servers. Wells Fargo raised its target on Dell to $270 from $180, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $170 from $110 but kept an Underweight rating, a call that means investors should hold less of the stock than its weight in a benchmark.
The move matters now because Dell reports fiscal first-quarter results on May 28, and the stock’s sharp run has left investors looking for proof that AI-optimized servers — machines built to run AI workloads — can produce durable profit, not just higher sales. MarketBeat lists consensus estimates of $3.00 in earnings per share and $34.95 billion in revenue for the quarter.
Dell has become one of the cleaner public-market bets on AI infrastructure outside Nvidia. The company said in February it closed more than $64 billion in AI-optimized server orders in fiscal 2026, shipped more than $25 billion, entered fiscal 2027 with a $43 billion backlog and expects roughly $50 billion in AI-optimized server revenue this year. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said then that “the AI opportunity is transforming our company.” Dell Technologies
Morgan Stanley’s new target still sits far below Dell’s recent trading price. The firm expects a strong first half and above-consensus second-quarter guidance, but said much of that is already reflected in the shares and pointed to memory inflation and supply shortages as risks for the second half.
The caution has not stopped other analysts from moving higher. Recent market data showed Dell at $283.30, up 12.06%, at 9:48 a.m. EDT, with the shares trading at a fresh 52-week high; the same page showed an average analyst price target of $208.30, below the live price.
Dell used its annual technology event this week to push deeper into data-center equipment, storage and agentic AI, software that can plan and carry out tasks with less direct human input. Arthur Lewis, president of Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group, said “AI doesn’t wait,” while Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Matt Kimball said Dell’s newer products address the “operational reality across the full stack.” Business Wire
The company also introduced PowerStore Elite, a storage platform it says will be globally available in July 2026, with a 6:1 data-reduction guarantee and mixed-generation clustering meant to let customers upgrade without moving workloads. Omdia’s Scott Sinclair said AI growth, ransomware pressure and tighter flash supply are reshaping storage buying decisions.
But the rally has a clear risk. A 24/7 Wall St. analysis, republished by Yahoo Finance, put a 12-month target at $275.20 and a bull case near $287, but said gross-margin compression, negative shareholders’ equity, supplier concentration in AI silicon and competition from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Super Micro Computer remain watch points.
That competitive field is not standing still. Bernstein, according to Investing.com, raised its Dell target to $280 and said agentic AI could lift demand for traditional servers, while also noting possible share shifts from Super Micro after recent challenges; Morgan Stanley, by contrast, said Dell’s premium to AI infrastructure peers had reached 30%, an all-time high in its framework.
Dell is also staying in front of investors after earnings. The company said Infrastructure Solutions Group chief Arthur Lewis will speak at Bank of America’s Global Technology Conference in San Francisco on June 2, keeping the focus on servers, storage and AI infrastructure after next week’s report.
