Sweet On Dell Technologies: Investing in the Vision

So much has changed in the world and in our industry since Dell Technologies returned to the public market. Globally, we’ve seen new trade tensions, political machinations, a pandemic and an outcry for racial justice and socio-economic change. And in our industry, we’ve seen the continued explosion of data accompanied by the rise of multi-cloud, 5G and AI. It’s made for an interesting time to be in the market, whether as an investor or a public company.

Now more than ever, there is a need for clarity and consistency for our stakeholders—and at Dell Technologies, that starts and ends with our vision. We are positioning Dell Technologies to become the most essential technology company for the data era.

There are three things we know we must to do to achieve this vision and best serve our customers and stakeholders:

  1. We must win in the consolidating markets in which we compete by gaining share and leading the industry in our core product categories.
  2. We must innovate and integrate across the Dell Technologies portfolio. This means developing and investing in breakthrough technologies—across edge, core data center, cloud and security, including our venture arm Dell Technologies Capital, for truly differentiated solutions.
  3. And we must optimize our capital structure to ensure we’re best positioned for future growth and shareholder return. We’ll do that by carefully managing our cash flow, paying down debt and making smart, long-term investments in pursuit of our strategy and vision.

If we do these three things, we have a seat at every table as customers look to transform their organizations for the future and do so with fewer, not more, technology partners. That’s the opportunity we see for our company—and it’s big.

None of this is new thinking. It’s the path we’ve been on since Dell Technologies’ inception.

  • We continue to make progress in the consolidating core markets in which we compete by gaining share in PCs and servers. We were the only vendor in the top five to have positive year-over-year PC unit growth in the first quarter of this year, and we moved up to #2 worldwide in commercial PC sales.¹ In mainstream servers, we broke our own record with 31.3 percent share, up 106 basis points year-over-year.2
  • On the innovation front, Unified Workspace, Dell Technologies Cloud Platform, and the just-launched PowerStore midrange storage platform are great examples of how we’re innovating across our portfolio and co-engineering with VMware to bring game changing, integrated solutions to customers. Over the last five fiscal years, we’ve invested approximately $18 billion in R&D3 across the Dell Technologies estate and are currently ranked #16 worldwide in patents issued.4
  • We are focused on creating long-term value for stakeholders and optimizing our capital structure. Our liquidity position is strong with more than $13 billion of cash and investments at the end of our first fiscal quarter. We have worked to smooth out our debt maturity towers—only $600 million due this month, plus approximately $200 million of debt amortization for the year. We intend to reduce core debt by roughly $5.5 billion this fiscal year and use the proceeds from our first quarter bond issuance to pay down an additional $2.25 billion this year.

The reality is we are a different company than we were when we first re-entered the public market. With more than $180 billion in revenue in the last two years alone and significant investments in research, innovation and building out our portfolio, we are uniquely positioned for this digital decade. Today we have broad capabilities spanning traditional infrastructure, hybrid-cloud technologies, software and security solutions, and services—all of which are multi-billion-dollar businesses.

Every step we take is progress toward our vision to become the most essential technology company for the data era. It’s a vision we will relentlessly pursue to create differentiated value for all Dell Technologies stakeholders—customers, partners, team members, communities and investors. Listen to our Q1 earnings call to learn more.

  1. IDC WW Quarterly Personal Computing Device (PDC) Tracker CY20Q1.
  2. IDC WW Quarterly Server Tracker CY20Q1.
  3. Amount represents R&D expense and includes EMC amounts prior to the merger transaction date on September 7, 2016
  4. 2020 Patent 300 List by Harrity Patent Analytics and IPO

About the Author: Tom Sweet

Tom Sweet was previously Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Dell Technologies.