Analyst Explains Dell Technologies (DELL) Growth Catalysts ‘Underneath The Hood’

We recently published a list of 10 AI Stocks on Investors’ Radar In January 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL) stands against other AI stocks on investors’ radar in January 2025.

Drew Pettit, U.S. equity strategist at Citi Research, said in a latest program on CNBC that he believes the AI growth story is still intact moving ahead in 2025. However, the analyst believes a lot of positive news is already “priced in.” He also mentioned the key areas that can benefit this year.

“I think the fundamental stories, at least for the pick-and-shovels names, continue. But where we think the trade is actually going to broaden out, and honestly, it has since mid-year, is into some of the users of AI. So, think about car companies that do autonomous driving or software companies putting that into their programs themselves, and even to some of the more cyclical names that, on the back end, can get some more productivity gains. So yes, the picks-and-shovels, the enablers of the trade, were attractive for the most part in 2024. We think AI continues to broaden out.”

The analyst said he has done some “reverse DCF work” and believes there are many companies that are mispriced and many that have the good news around them already priced in.

READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In

For this article, we picked 10 AI stocks that analysts are talking about this month. With each company, we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Analyst Explains Dell Technologies Inc (DELL) Growth Catalysts ‘Underneath The Hood’

Stock market data on a laptop screen. Photo by Alesia Kozik

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 60

Bryn Talkington from Requisite Capital Management explained on CNBC why she likes Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) stock.

“Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL), to me, as a story, is more the parts are greater than the sum. For next quarter earnings, which are February of 2025, the Street’s looking for 10% and 14% revenue and earnings growth. But underneath the hood, their infrastructure solutions group is where people are buying Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL)—that is their networking, their servers, and that’s where they’re getting data center growth. They had 38% growth. So, when I look at this company, you’re going to continue to see that ISG group be a larger and larger part of the earnings. Right now, it’s about 40%.”

In the most recently reported quarter, Dell posted mixed results with revenue missing expectations. What stands out is Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), which posted an impressive 34% year-over-year growth, reaching $11.4 billion in revenue. The server business rose a whopping 58% increase YoY to $7.4 billion.

Dell Tech Inc (NYSE:DELL) experienced a shift in AI server demand toward the next-generation Blackwell architecture. Dell Tech Inc (NYSE:DELL)’s management highlighted that there was a dramatic shift in orders toward Nvidia’s (NVDA) Blackwell-based systems during Q3, which impacted short-term shipments as these products ramp up production. This shift shows Dell Tech Inc (NYSE:DELL)’s competitive position, as customers are willing to wait for the latest tech solutions. Dell secured $3.6 billion in AI server orders this quarter, an 11% increase from the previous quarter. Dell Tech Inc (NYSE:DELL) also signed over 2,000 enterprise customers for their AI solutions.

Carillon Scout Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) was a top contributor despite reporting disappointing first-quarter earnings results, because investors looked through the near-term disappointment and expected strong growth from AI-related servers and personal computers. We expect Dell to participate in the growth of artificial intelligence hardware, especially as enterprises invest more aggressively. We like the company’s depth and breadth of products and services, as well as its focus on keeping costs low.”

Overall, DELL ranks 9th on our list of AI stocks on investors’ radar in January 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of DELL, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DELL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.