Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) widened its global PC sales lead over Dell (DELL), again. HP’s PC shipments in Q4 increased by 24% over the same period last year. Its worldwide market share now stands at 17.1% according to research firm Gartner.
Dell’s PC shipments actually fell in the last quarter of the year. Units shipped dropped 8.7% taking its global share down to 13.9%.
Dell says that it is focusing on profitability instead of raw growth, but the news is another set-back for the company and its shareholders. Based on HP’s quarterly filings, its PC business appears to be profitable, so the new Dell strategy may simply be masking an inability to draw new customers.
The drop in share may also signal that Dell will have another poor quarter when its announces it results for the last calendar quarter of 2006. The stock has staged a recovery since July rising from $19 to just below $26.
Those gains could be erased.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about
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