Dell beats revenue estimates as remote work fuels demand

(Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc beat market estimates for second-quarter revenue on Thursday as the shift to hybrid work kept demand strong for its laptops, desktops and cloud services.

People globally continue to spend on computer devices even after a year of working from home. Figures from International Data Corp showed shipments of PCs rose 13% from April to June, but the pace of growth was much slower than last year's frenzy.

While the industry has faced pressure from components shortage and supply chain woes, revenue at Dell's client solutions unit - home to its hardware devices - surged 27% to a record $14.3 billion.

Its cloud-computing unit, VMware, grew 8%, thanks to orders from companies looking to cut costs and expand their digital presence.

Total revenue jumped 15% to $26.12 billion, beating the analysts' average estimate of $25.53 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The reopening of the economy has redirected some consumer spending away from computers to other sectors. But a recent rise in COVID-19 cases has prompted renewed curbs and could potentially boost the demand for remote-working equipment.

Dell's net income fell to $880 million, or $1.05 per share, in the quarter ended July 30, from $1.01 billion, or $1.37 per share, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)