Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL  ) reported a mixed first quarter, driven by what executives described as "exceptionally strong demand" for its AI-optimized servers.

What Happened: The company reported $12.1 billion in AI server orders in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2026, surpassing the entirety of shipments for all of fiscal year 2025, and pushing its backlog to a record $14.4 billion.

Vice Chairman and COO Jeff Clarke noted that just 91 days into the year, Dell had already secured $12.1 billion in AI server orders, a figure that significantly contributed to the burgeoning $14.4 billion backlog.

Looking ahead, Dell anticipates shipping approximately $7 billion of that backlog in the second quarter. Clarke emphasized the company's focus on actively converting its extensive "five-quarter pipeline" into new orders throughout the second quarter and the latter half of the year.

He projected a strong performance, stating that their "best outlook" suggests they will be in the "$15 billion plus" range for shipped AI server revenue for the full fiscal year.

Why It Matters: Its first-quarter revenue of $23.38 billion beat the consensus estimate of $23.14 billion. Whereas, adjusted earnings of $1.55 per share missed analyst estimates of $1.69 per share.

The company's revenue growth was fueled by robust performance across all core markets, with both the Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) and Client Solutions Group (CSG) growing by 8%.

Dell also generated a record $2.8 billion in cash flow from operations for the first quarter and returned a substantial $2.4 billion to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends.

The second-quarter revenue is expected to range from $28.5 billion to $29.5 billion, whereas the expected EPS stands at $2.25. The fiscal 2026 revenue is expected to be between $101 billion to $105 billion with a full-year EPS of $9.40.

Dell shares fell 0.12% on Thursday and rose 1.87% in after-hours. The stock was down 2.49% in 2025 and 33.13% over the whole year.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings shows that Dell had a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long term. Its momentum ranking was poor, and its value ranking was moderate at the 36.14th percentile.